The Sinnoh Journey
by Henry X
Summary: Scarfshipping LucasxDawnxBarry Rated T for language and humor. After heading to the lake, Lucas and Barry are sent on a journey through Sinnoh.
1. The Two Friends

The Sinnoh Journey

The Sinnoh Journey

Chapter 1: The Two Friends

Sunlight poured through his window, needless to say, waking up the fifteen-year old boy. Looking at the clock on his nightstand he groaned, for it was only 8:30 in the morning.

"Well, I might as well get up…" the boy said as he got out of a bed and headed for his bathroom. Then he heard something near his window; walking over to see what caused the noise, he saw a boy with blonde hair, wearing an orange and white striped polo shirt, black jeans, and brown loafers as well as a green scarf.

"What do you want, Barry?" The boy hollered out of his window.

"Lucas we need to go to the lake!" The boy named Barry answered.

"Alright, but I need to get dressed, I'm not going to do something you would." Lucas calmly replied. Lucas then went over to his dresser and pulled out some clothes. He quickly threw them on his bed to make sure they matched; he didn't want to look like a clown. "Let's see… Red beret, blue cargo pants, white shirt with black vest… that should be everything, well except for my shoes, but I left them downstairs…"

After putting his clothes on, Lucas ran downstairs, put his shoes on, told his mom he was going to see Barry and ran out the door.

"You forgot something." Barry told Lucas when he ran out the door.

"What did I forget? Lucas asked, confused.

"Your scarf."

Lucas ran back inside and back out, putting his red scarf on as he joined Barry, who was already heading out to the lake. On the walk to the lake Barry talked constantly; Lucas wasn't thinking or paying attention to what Barry was saying, not that Barry ever said anything vital…

"Why are we going to the lake anyway?" Lucas asked.

"I saw a show on TV that talked about a red Gyrados living out in the Lake of Rage, so I thought that there will be a rare or powerful pokemon living in Lake Verity."

"Well I'm already dressed and we're nearly there, so I might as well go with you." _Since you'll drown otherwise._

The two approached a sign that read: Lake Verity Ahead, The Lake of Emotions.

"I guess were here." Barry said confidently, a smile manifesting itself on his face.

"No shit Sherlock." Lucas said.

"Well let's go!"

"Right behind you, Captain Ahab." And the two entered into a clearing that led to Lake Verity. As the two first came out of the clearing and saw the lake, Barry ran off to the shore and started scanning the lake for a red Gyrados, or maybe just a Gyrados. Lucas however, noticed two people out not even one hundred yards from Barry. One of them was an old man, with white hair and a matching moustache. The other was a girl, who looked to be about Lucas' own age. She had on pink boots, with black socks that went just slightly higher than her boots, a sleeveless black top, white undershirt that covered her chest, a pink skirt that from the distance Lucas was at, looked rather short, and a white beanie.

The two appeared to be having a conversation. After they were done talking, they started towards the way back to the path that led to Twinleaf Town and Sandgem Town. As they walked by the girl looked at Lucas and he looked back. He noticed that she had beautiful blue eyes and that her beanie had a pink pokeball on the front.

_I've never seen eyes so beautiful…_ Lucas thought.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked.

"Looking over _him." _ Lucas replied indicating towards Barry, who was still looking for anything.

"Dawn, we best be on our way." The old man said to the girl.

"Anon, professor." The girl replied.

_Well, she's read Romeo and Juliet, that's the only way she would know how to use that word._

After the professor and the girl named Dawn left, Barry walked up and said, "I saw you trying to-

Lucas smacked Barry across the head before he could finish the sentence.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Barry I've known you for a long time, so I knew what you were going to say. And no, I wasn't trying to work over that girl."

"Oh."

"Oh? What do you mean by 'oh'?"

"Look, I think they left something behind in the tall grass." Barry said.

"Huh?"

"They left something behind; let's go see what it is." Barry, after saying that, ran over to what ended up being a briefcase.

:…: used to denote when a pokemon is "talking"

:Starly: Suddenly, two birds appeared from the tall grass as the boys got near the briefcase.

"Good job, Barry! Now I'm going to die a virgin!"

"You know what Lucas? Just open up the damn briefcase and see what is in it at least!" Barry shouted back.

"Hey we're in luck!" Lucas shouted, clearly relieved.

"How so?"

There's pokeballs in here; take one!" Lucas tossed his friend one of the half-red, half-white orbs.

Lucas and Barry both tossed the two balls and (naturally) two pokemon came out. Barry's was a turtle-like creature and Lucas' was a monkey that had a flame sticking out of its rear quarter.

"Damnit! I wanted Chimchar." Barry complained.

"Now's not the time to argue; let's just get rid of these Starlys!"

Barry ordered his Turtwig to be aggressive and attack right away. The Turtwig, without waiting for Barry to tell it to do anything, jumped at the nearest Starly and tackled it. The Starly attempted to dodge the attack, but it didn't move quickly enough. However, the attack didn't knock out the wild pokemon. Starly rolled out from underneath Turtwig and flew up. Then the Starly flew up in the air and dove down upon the Turtwig.

Lucas meanwhile was battling conservatively, waiting for the Starly to come in close and then striking. "Chimchar, I know this looks bad, but for both our sakes, will you listen to me?" The monkey-like pokemon nodded in agreement. "Wait for the Starly to get close to us then scratch at its wings." Lucas ordered the pokemon.

"Turtwig are you all alright?" Barry asked after the Starly dove down onto the Turtwig.

: Twig:

"Alright then, head but! Let's finish it off!"

As Barry finished up against his Starly, Lucas was waiting for the right moment to attack the Starly so he wouldn't have to hurt someone else's Chimchar too badly.

"Bingo! Chimchar hop on Starly's back and crash it into the ground!" Chimchar was more than happy to mess with the bird pokemon and when Starly swooped in to drive its beak into Chimchar's forehead, Chimchar jumped, landed on Starley and started pulling on the feathers on the back of the bird's head. After a minute of Chimchar holding on for the ride, it finally steered the Starly into a nearby tree.

"Good job Chimchar." Lucas said as he pulled the pokeball out to return the fire monkey.

"Turtwig, you did great. Return." Barry said as he also pulled his pokeball out. He pressed the button on the center of the ball and Turtwig turned into a red beam and was sucked into the ball. Lucas did the same.

"Hey there's that girl you-

"Shut up Barry…"

The girl from earlier indeed however was running over to the two friends, with a look of shock on her face.

"The nerve of you two…you should be ashamed of yourself; using someone else's pokemon for a thrill… I'm going to tell the professor about you two." After sculling the two boys, she stormed off.

"Should we be concerned?" Barry asked his friend.

"I'm not sure, to tell you the truth."

"She said she was going to tell the professor about us."

"He can't be that bad…can he…?" Lucas trailed off.


	2. Explaining

A/N: I don't own pokemon

A/N: I don't own pokemon. Nintendo does. I also don't own any of the games or websites mentioned later on.

Also, thank you Brenediction for the reply and the offer for any help.

Thanks for the Rave, I really appreciate constructive criticism (something my little brother doesn't give me) and I'll be sure to check Serebii for your story.

Explaining

As the two boys began their walk back home, Barry started talking.

"I'm sorry Lucas; I shouldn't have investigated the briefcase, but I thought it was a bomb.

"It's alright, Barry."

"You do realize I was joking about the bomb, right?"

"Actually, I wouldn't put it past you to believe there was a bomb in the briefcase."

"Touché."

"Alright, just let me think." Lucas requested of his friend.

"Well I'll just head on home, ok." Barry asked of his friend.

"You do that." And with that Barry sprinted on home. Lucas meanwhile, kept walking, thinking about what he would tell the "professor".

"Lucas!!" Someone called out. Naturally, he lifted his head to see who or what called his name.

It was Barry.

_Wonder what he wants now_

"Prof. Rowan would like to see you!"

"Who is that?!" Lucas shouted back.

"The guy who was with that girl!"

"Well where is he?"

"Over here!"

"Oh would you just get over here?!" A new voice called out. The voice was gruff and deep.

"Right away!" Lucas started running towards the professor and his friend.

The professor gave Lucas a minute to catch his breath.

"I wish I was in shape… or could run like you," Lucas said as he looked at his friend.

"Alright, I'd like to speak with you Mr…"

"Barbarossa." Lucas finished for the older man.

"Thank you, Mr. Barbarossa. I'm Prof. Rowan." The man said.

_So he's angry and psychic…_

"I would like to know why my assistant told me you two were goofing around with _my_ pokemon."

"Why didn't you just ask Barry, sir? No offence."

"I tried but he was talking too quick and he sounded frightened as if I looked like I was about to rip his head off."

"Good point. Alright what happened was that after you left, Barry noticed that you left something behind in the tall grass. So, we went to go see what it is. Well, Barry wanted to see what it was, I was just a little reluctant. When we got to the point that we could tell it was a briefcase, two Starlys attacked us. Since we realized that we didn't have any choice, I opened the briefcase and they're were some pokeballs in there. At that point we just decided to fight off these rather aggressive birds. After the two birds were out cold, your assistant saw us returning the two injured pokemon and I guess assumed that we were battling each other."

"Well, since I have no reason to think you two are lying, I'll let you slide and won't tell your parents about today. I want you two to do the same. Now run along."

"So we aren't in trouble?" Barry asked after remaining silent for the longest time in his life (five minutes).

"Correct."

"Yes!" Barry then proceeded to jump in the air and punch his fist into the air.

"Calm down Barry," Lucas said. "You owe me for digging you out of this bottomless pit with spikes at the bottom."

"Shit…" Barry whispered under his breath.

"Let's go home Barry." Lucas suggested.

"Whoo! I'm off the hook, a free man!" Barry shouted as he ran all the way home.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Rowan asked Lucas.

"Probably going to go home and play GTA IV, or Rock Band and Guitar Hero III."

"Well I shall probably see you soon. Goodbye."

"Likewise."

When Lucas got home he invited Barry over to play Rock Band on his Xbox 360.

"So what happens now?" Barry asked Lucas.

"I don't know. Though Rowan did mention he would probably see us soon."

"I wonder why."

"Same here. You owe me ten dollars and three sodas."

"Why?

"Because I dug you out of the bottomless pit."

"Fine. Here's the ten dollars, I'll get you the sodas tomorrow."

"Don't forget otherwise I'll go Roman on you."

"You'll put me in a pit with lions?"

"Do you really think I would put my best friend in a pit of lions? I would only do that if your name was Daniel." Lucas said with a chuckle.

"Why Daniel? And normally you do what you say, you're like a stormtrooper when you say you'll do something."

"Respectively, because Daniel was thrown in a pit of lions and God saved him by sending an angel. And I'm a little short to be a stormtrooper."

The two friends played Rock Band until supper and when that came Barry just ate with Lucas.

"Thank you for your generosity, Mrs. Barbarossa."

"Thank you for the compliment, Barry," She replied.

Lucas meanwhile looked at his friend in shock. "I didn't know that you knew such big words Barry."

"Yeah, I guess you're rubbing off on me…"

"Great, now we have an intelligent, overactive kid for a friend." Lucas joked with his friend.

The phone started ringing. Lucas' mother picked it up.

"Hello? Lucas, it's for you."

"Before I answer, who's it from?" he asked.

"Prof. Rowan."

"Oh," Lucas took the phone from his mother.

"Hello?"

"Lucas can I see you at my lab tomorrow."

"Sure. Why?"

"I'll tell you when you get there."

"Okay. We'll be there tomorrow morning. Now I have two questions. How did you know my phone number, and how am I supposed to know where your lab is?

"I got your phone number off your Myspace and as for where my lab is; just use MapQuest."

"Yeah, I guess I could find your lab," Lucas hung up the phone.

"What did he want?" his mother and Barry asked Lucas.

"He wants to see Barry and me at his lab tomorrow morning."

"Really?" Barry asked quickly.

"Yes, really."

"Well I suggest that both of you get some sleep tonight, he's probably going to give you your first pokemon."

After having dessert (chocolate fudge sundaes) the two boys said there goodbyes, Barry went home, and went to bed. Lucas however, couldn't fall asleep.

_So, I might get my first pokemon tomorrow… Well, there's a first time for everything… I wonder if that girl, Dawn, will be traveling with us. I hope so, maybe she'll be able to calm down Barry down…_

And with the thought of Dawn traveling with the two friends, Lucas fell asleep.

The next morning, Lucas woke up without the suns help.

_Good thing I closed the blinds last night._

Lucas got up out of bed and took a shower. After he got out of the shower, Lucas started getting dressed. While he was putting his pants on when what sounded like a cinderblock hit his wall. Running over, he yanked up the blinds, opened the window and saw Barry standing there, tossing a rock in his hands.

"Barry did you throw that rock?!"

"Yes. What's your point?" he replied

"Stay right there."

A few minutes later Lucas walked outside and smacked Barry across the head.

"No more throwing rocks at my window. Just start asking my mom if you need to see me."

"Fine. Can we go to Prof. Rowan's lab now?"

"Hold on… Yep, I can't think of anything that I need to get."

"What about food?"

"Good point. Hold on, I'll get something to eat from my mom."

Lucas went into his house and came back out with some breakfast bars.

"Hopefully this will hold over until we get to Sandgem Town."

It took the two boys thirty minutes to get to Sandgem Town. Then they had to spend five minutes trying to find the professor's lab. When they finally found it, Barry spoke first.

"That my friend, is a large building."

"No its not," Lucas said sarcastically.

"Yes it is."

"Now is not the time to argue, you moron. Now let's just go in there and see what he has to say."

The two friends walked in without saying anything, taking in the books upon books that lined the shelves, the computers across the lab, and then they finally noticed that someone else was in the lab as well. That person was Dawn.

"Took you two long enough," she said as she looked at them.

"Lucas it's that girl that-"

"If I were you, I would hold your tongue."

Barry took the time to actually grab his tongue.

_Smartass…_

"So, are you working with Prof. Rowan?" Lucas asked.

"Yes."

"Speaking of which, where is the professor?" Barry asked.

"He's busy at the moment."

"So they're finally here," the professor said as he walked around the corner. "How long have they been here?"

"Just a couple of minutes."

"Dawn and ourselves have been having a delightful conversation," Lucas said.

Dawn shot Lucas a look. Apparently, Barry didn't get the joke.

"Why is she being so cool towards us?"

"Oh, that reminds me, I need to tell Dawn what happened yesterday," Prof. Rowan said. Rowan then explained to Dawn what happened to the two boys and how she caught them right after they had defeated the Starly.

"So, I misjudged them?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, you misjudged them. Now, onto business; when I got to the lab yesterday, the Chimchar and Turtwig went looking around the lab for you two."

Now Barry was shaking with excitement. Lucas however was staying calm and just listening, occasionally trying to get a glimpse of Dawn. Dawn however, was just listening as well.

"I presume that you two have probably already figured out that Dawn is my assistant." The two boys nodded. "Her work involves finding pokemon and adding them to my pokedex. However recently, things have getting dangerous and I'm concerned for her safety and my lawyer probably won't be able to save me from a lawsuit if she's injured. I take it that you two have heard of Team Galactic?" The boys shook their heads. "They've been stealing pokemon and I don't think Dawn would be able to fight off several grown men if they mobbed her. I want you two to go with her, and make sure that Team Galactic doesn't harm her."

Upon hearing that last sentence, Dawn looked mortified, but was smart enough to know not to complain.

_Yes!_

"Oh, and here I want you guys to have these," Prof. Rowan said and he handed the two boys what looked like red miniature computers. "These are the pokedexes that I was talking about." Then Rowan tossed a pokeball to each of the boys. "I assumed that you guys would want your pokemon back if you were to travel across Sinnoh."

Lucas chuckled at the last comment Prof. Rowan said. Barry was so excited that Lucas began to wonder that any second his best friend would explode.

"Well, I can't think of anything else to give you guys or tell you except one thing; make sure to tell your mothers what you are doing and where you will be going. The Berlitz family already knows what Dawn will be doing and where she will be going. So, be gone from here, and good luck."

"I have just one thing to say professor," Barry spoke out.

"And what is that?"

"Nice moustache."

Lucas once again proceeded to smack Barry across the back of the head. This time though, everyone was (even the Prof. Rowan) was laughing at the moment.


	3. Set Out

Set Out

Set Out

Lucas, Barry and Dawn finally set out from the professor's lab and started for the pokemon center first thing.

"Why are we heading to the pokemon center?"

"Because Dawn, we need a map if we're going to navigate through this region," Lucas replied.

"Good point."

When the trio entered the pokemon center, Dawn (who knew this Nurse Joy the best out of the three) went up and asked Nurse Joy where the group could find a town map. After being asked where to find a town map, the nurse reached for something underneath the counter and handed Dawn what looked to be a brochure.

"Watcha looking at Lucas?" Barry asked his friend who was clearly staring at Dawn from behind.

"Nothing Barry, nothing at all." _Shit_

"Alright boys, I've got the map."

"Well then let's go."

"Control yourself Barry," Lucas said to his friend.

As the trio left the pokemon center, Dawn was already scanning the map as to find Sandgem Town so she would know how to orient the map.

"Let's see…" she said. "Ah, I found Sandgem Town and the according to the map, the next stop is Jubilife City.

"Is there a gym there?" Barry questioned the girl.

"Naturally, _you_ would ask that question, Barry," Lucas said.

"Yes well, that's how I roll!"

"Is he always like this?"

"Yes Dawn, he is always like this, even in his sleep. Here, have some earplugs."

"No thanks; I'd rather here him than be immersed in silence."

"Suit yourself."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Barry and Lucas asked.

"For misjudging the two of you; I jumped to conclusions when I saw the two of you returning the pokemon to their pokeballs."

"Don't worry about it; Lucas jumps to conclusions all the time."

Lucas then smacked Barry across the head.

"One day, I'm going to give him a concussion"

Dawn giggled at that the joke.

"Well, since I'm stuck with the two of you I might as well know what you're both like."

"As you can tell, Barry is the one who acts and then thinks. That is if can think at all after the amount of times I've hit across the head."

"And Lucas is the one who thinks too much before he acts."

"Touché Barry," Lucas said to his friend.

"So… what do you like Lucas?" Dawn asked.

"Oh, the same thing most boys like; Foreplay." Dawn looked shocked to hear him say that. "What? It's a song by a band called Boston."

"Oh…"

"Carrying on, I like video games, and I guess I might as well like pokemon since I'm going to be traveling with you two for a while."

"Barry, what about you?"

"Me, I like Chimchar." Barry scowls at his friend. "Lucky bastard got a Chimchar and not me," he whispered under his breath.

"What was that?!"

"Just saying that you got lucky since you got the Chimchar. Anyway, I like video games and music in general. Well, except for rap; I just can't seem to bring myself to like that."

"What about you Dawn?" Lucas asked the girl.

"Me? I like pokemon, and traveling, and good food."

_Now I know what to do._

Lucas then proceeded to pull out an ipod and started scrolling down to find a song.

"There we go," he said as he found the song he was looking for.

"What song are you listening to?" Dawn asked.

"Say it Ain't So by Weezer," he answered.

"I can't say I've heard of that song or band," Dawn said. Lucas looked shocked.

"After I listen to them I'll let you."

After a few minutes, Lucas gave the ipod to Dawn, who listened to the song.

"I actually rather liked that," she said.

"Of course you would; it's Weezer," Barry finally joined the conversation.

"Hey how long is it until we get to Jubilife City?" Barry asked.

"It should be another hour until we get there," Dawn answered, looking at the map.

"Another hour!? I'll be dead of starvation by then."

"How could you be starving? You ate all my food this morning!"

"Must be his metabolism…" Dawn joked.

"You sure you don't want those earplugs? He going to be complaining all the way there," Lucas offered.

I'll try them for ten minutes. If I can hear him, you're knocking him out and carrying him all the way to Jubilife."

Luckily for Lucas, the earplugs did work, so he didn't have to carry his best friend all the way to Jubilife City. When the group finally did, get to Jubilife City, Barry was the first to speak.

"This is a rather large city."

"So this is Jubilife City?" Lucas asked.

"No, just the outskirts," Dawn answered.

"Damn, then it's larger that I thought," Lucas said.

"That's what she said," Barry replied.

"Here, let me hit him this time," Dawn said.

"Be my guest." Dawn then backhanded Barry.

"That actually felt pretty good. Except for my fingers."

"Come on let's go," Lucas said.

The group spent another half-our trying to find a pokemon center to stay in for the night.

"Why are we staying here?" Barry asked Lucas.

"Because I don't want to listen to you anymore on the road today."

Dawn burst out laughing.

"Alright let's put our luggage in out room," Lucas said.

"Room?" Dawn looked confused.

"Yeah, the pokemon center only has one room, and fortuitously, there are three beds in it."

"Good, because I don't intend on sleeping with either of you at the moment."

_Snap_

"Well do either of you want to go sight seeing for the day?" Lucas suggested.

"Hell yes!" Dawn hollered.

"Alright then, I say we find out what's here to see," Dawn said as she studied the map. "Okay, there's the poketch company, the TV station, the Global Trade Station, a school for trainers intending to be leaders or members of the Elite Four."

"I say we let Barry decide where to go first," Lucas said.

"I second that," Barry said.

"I'd hope so," Dawn said.

"Well, I say we go to the poketch company."

"Alright, then. Dawn, you have the map; lead the way," Lucas spoke up.

When the group (led by Dawn) got to the poketch company building, they noticed a man at the front, who liked he was giving something away.

"Does it look like he is giving something away to you guys or am I just seeing things?" Lucas said

"I think you're right," Dawn agreed.

"I know you're right," Barry joked.

"Well let's go see what he is giving away," Lucas suggested.

The group then walked over (Barry ran) to the man. Naturally, Barry got over there before anyone else did.

"Goodness kid, you just pushed through several people without breaking a sweat, do you play football?" the man said.

"No, we're not in America."

"He wasn't bothering you was he?" Lucas said as he and Dawn caught up to Barry.

"Not at all, not at all," the man said in a booming voice.

_Jeez, you can not only hear this guy's voice, but feel it._

"I assume that you three are trainers."

"Yes," they all replied.

"Well you three are in luck; I'm giving away free poketches!" he boomed.

"Well, my dad always says that if it's free and not a pet, then take the deal," Barry said.

"Here you go. Oh, wait, what colors do you want?"

"Emerald," Lucas said.

"Diamond," said Barry.

"Sapphire," Dawn was the last to speak.

"Well, I just happen to have all three of those colors.

When the three trainers got their poketches, and put them on, they all started seeing what features that the devices had. Lucas noted how Dawn's poketch matched her eyes perfectly.

"Wow, Dawn that really, matches your eyes." Dawn started blushing.

"Thank you Lucas."

"Alright you two lovebirds, where are we going to go now?"

"Uh, right, where are we going to go now? Dawn why don't you decide where we head to," Lucas suggested.

"How about… the TV station. They offer tours there,"

"But I'm hungry," Barry complained.

"They give away free samples," Dawn said.

"I'm in!"

"Well Dawn, why don't you lead the way?" Lucas suggested.

"Right."

It took another half-hour for the trio to get to the TV station. By the time they got there, the sun was already starting to set in the west. When they got to the TV station they noticed an usher who looked as if she was waiting to give a tour for anyone.

"Barry, use your inhuman running skills to ask that tour guide if there are anymore tours today," Dawn ordered.

"Right away." And Barry ran ahead of the group.

In one minute, Barry was back and he said, "Yeah there is a tour, but you're going to have hurry if you want to get in."

Naturally, the group ran to the tour guide (well, Barry sprinted). They got there just in time.

"Alright, if you want to get a tour for this TV station, this is the last tour for the day!"

"Damn that was good timing," Lucas wheezed in between breathes.

The tour took a couple of hours, but it was worth it. The group got to see an episode of Attack of the Show being produced, AFI making a music video, and plenty of movies that were due to come out in a few months. By the time that they got out of the TV station, the sun was gone and one could tell that the city had a nightlife, but the clubs were no place for a bunch of fifteen year old teenagers to be.

"So where do we go now?" Dawn asked. "I brought some money and I guess we could afford to eat at a restaurant…"

"Well, my Uncle Georgio runs an Italian restaurant. And I'm his favorite nephew, so I might be able to get us in for free…" Barry said.

"I love Italian food!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Is it any good?" Lucas asked.

"Of course."

"Well then, lead the way," Lucas said.

After another ten minutes, the group finally found their destination. When they got there, Barry decided to knock on the door. It opened and a man who looked like a grown-up Barry except his hair was in a black afro stood in the doorway.

"Barry! My nephew! Come in, come in."

"This is the restaurant – it's amazing!" Barry hollered.

"If you think this is good, wait until you try the food," Uncle Georgio said confidently. Most people had already eaten, so the trio was seated immediately.

"Barry, it appears you finally are useful to us," Dawn said jokingly.

"Well I am more than just a pretty face." Everyone started laughing at Barry's reply.

"What will your orders be?" Georgio asked the group.

"I'll have pizza," Barry said.

"I'll have spaghetti," Dawn told Georgio.

"Same here," said Lucas.

The food was at the table in twenty minutes. The order was on two plates; the largest pizza ever made for one person was for Barry, and the spaghetti was on a one plate.

_Well, this is just a little cliché, but hell, I'll go with it…_

Thirty minutes later, Barry was finished with his pizza, but Dawn and Lucas were still eating their spaghetti. They were both sucking up a noodle of pasta when suddenly they realized that they were eating the same noodle. Just about when their lips were about to touch, Barry sliced the noodle in half with a knife he had at the table.

_Damn you Barry! Damn you!_

Both Dawn and Lucas were both blushing at what nearly happened. After finishing, Georgio came by and when Dawn asked for a check he said that they didn't need to pay him.

The trio then went to the pokemon center and got ready for bed. Just before going to bed Lucas took a look out of the window and said, "Wow those guys are dressed like weirdos." Naturally, the other two ran over to the window and started looking.

Dawn gasped and then said, "Those are the guys that Prof. Rowan was talking about – they're from Team Galactic!"

"Wow, I bet people don't take them seriously," Barry said.

"They don't need to be taken seriously to take your pokemon…"

"Let's just forget about them and get some sleep – it's not like we have any pokemon that they would want to take," Lucas tried reasoning with the two.

"Yeah, you're probably right…" Dawn said.

"Alright everyone in bed?" Lucas asked.

"Yep."

"Yes."

"Alright see you in the morning."

And with that, Lucas turned out the light.

A/N : Thank you Brenediction and Rave; your continued support encourages me to continue the story. Well I'd do that anyway.

I don't own any of the bands, shows, songs or pokemon seen here, they all belong to their respective owners.

And post any suggestions with your reviews (Brenediction)


	4. Trouble

Trouble

Trouble

Lucas woke up in a cold sweat.

_Something isn't right here. But what is it?_

He looked at the clock across the room. It read 1:45.

_A quarter till two. Well since I'm up I might as well get dressed – I'll never go back to sleep now…_

Lucas proceeded to get dressed and just sat awake. Waiting for his friends to wake, Lucas thought about what was going on that could wake him up. It seemed like an eternity for just a minute to go by.

Suddenly it sounded like a bomb went off downstairs. The commotion downstairs woke up Dawn and Barry. Screaming could be heard downstairs and what sounded like at least three people were running around. Someone shouted about finding the stairs and that "she" mustn't escape.

"Dawn!" Lucas shouted. "Get out of here! Barry! Escort Dawn out of here – I'll stay and hold "them" off!"

"What's going on?" Barry asked rather lacadasicly.

"Someone's here and they're probably looking for someone and I don't want either of you in the way!"

Footsteps could be heard down the hallway.

"Check the rooms! The Berlitz's daughter has to be here somewhere!" a voice shouted out. Doors could be heard being opened and shut. With people shouting that they didn't have a positive ID.

Lucas enlarged his pokeball and stepped out of the room and into the hall.

"Hey! If you don't get out of our way, we'll force you!" One of the guys said. He had green hair and wore clothes which somewhat resembled a spacesuit.

"I'll move if you can take me in a pokemon battle. We'll each use all of our pokemon," Lucas said calmly, the exact opposite of what his opponent was doing.

"Fine. Go Glameow!" the man shout as he threw a pokeball into the air. The ball opened and in a flash of white light, a gray, cat-like pokemon with a coiled tail appeared.

"Go Chimchar!"

As the two pokemon got ready Lucas said, "I'll let you have the first move."

"You want even get to do anything. Glameow, use tackle."

"Dodge it Chmichar!" Chimchar side-stepped the Glameow and let it run by.

_I don't see any easy way out of this battle. I guess it just comes down to push-to-shove…_

"Chimchar, poke it in the eyes and then use ember!"

"Glameow, try to dodge the little monster." Glameow attempted to dodge the pokemon but Chimchar poked it in both eyes. Crying out in pain the Glameow, wouldn't listen to its master, and couldn't see. Seeing this, Chimchar then proceeded to begin blowing flames from its mouth and Glameow, unable to see just stood there, not knowing to dodge. The attack was perfect from the hit to the effect. Glameow finally decided to open its eyes and listen to what its master had to say.

"Glameow! Screech!"

"Cover your ears Chimchar! While that saved the monkey, Lucas couldn't say he got out of listening to that screech. 

Let's finish this Chimchar! Scratch!

"Dodge it Glameow!"

Glameow tried to move, but something was wrong with one of its leg; it seemed to Lucas that anytime the pokemon moved, pain surged from the leg throughout the body. Then Lucas saw what was wrong with the leg, it appeared to have a horrible burn.

While Lucas felt sorry for the pokemon, he knew that he had to defeat his opponent and that meant attacking the helpless Glameow. Chimchar went in for the kill, scratching the back of the pokemon's head and pulling its head down, slamming it into the floor. Glameow didn't move…

_If I killed that poor Glameow, I will never forgive myself…_

Finally, the Glameow stirred. It stood up, held itself rather shakily, and then collapsed. Lucas ran over and held up one of the paws and felt under it for a pulse. Several minutes passed…

_Please…_

Still no pulse.

_Come on… Please don't be dead…_

Still no pulse…

Lucas was about to start crying; fighting is one thing, killing is another.

Suddenly, he found a pulse.

"Your Glameow is alive. Now leave. I don't want to see you again."

The man began running away from Lucas. Lucas took the time to check the room to see if Dawn and Barry had escaped.

_I can't see their luggage here, so they must be gone. _Looking at the window, he noticed it was broken. _Count on Barry to jump through a window for escape… Better make sure that Dawn got out as well…_

"Dawn," Lucas whispered, "If you're not here I'm going to jump out this window."

Still not hearing anything, Lucas jumped out the window and landed on someone.

"Oi, get off me you nut."

"Barry is that you?"

"What, did you want to land on Dawn? Am I not good enough for you?"

"Now's not the time for jokes," Lucas hissed. "Now, where's Dawn?"

"Right here."

"Is everyone alright?" Lucas asked in a whisper.

"I was until you landed on me."

"Oh, just shut up."

"Did you two get your things?"

"Yeah, and we got yours too."

"I knew I was forgetting something."

Barry looked at his poketch.

"It's only 2:00 in the morning – what do we do now?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Dawn sounded furious.

"Why are you so angry?" Lucas asked her.

"Why were you dressed when the attack started?"

"Because I had just woken up."

"I don't believe you."

"Suit yourself."

"Someone just tried to kidnap me and here you are just staying calm." Dawn was beginning to sound on the verge of tears.

"Yeah, that's about right."

"I think you were collaborating with them and you were waiting for them to attack."

"What?!"

"You heard me."

"Break it up, now's not the time to start considering about strangling our companions."

"Shut up Barry!" the two exclaimed.

"Jesus…" Barry muttered under his breath.

"Look Dawn, why would I want to battle the people that I supposedly helped? I was also the one who told Barry to get you to safety."

"It just seems fishy that you were dressed and ready when the attack started."

"Well ever since I met Lucas when I moved to Twinleaf Town, he's always had problems going back to sleep if he's woken up."

"So what you're telling me Barry, is that he had woken up and was just going to sit there and wait for us to get up."

The two friends nodded.

"Now I feel like an idiot…"

"You got nothing on Barry, here."

"Hey."

"Tell you what, since we're all up, do you guys just want to head over to Oreburgh City and just rest there, day or night?"

"Where am I going to get dressed?" Dawn asked.

"Go change behind a bush; I won't look, well, I'll try no to. I don't know what Barry will do,"

"I need to change, too. Can I go change behind that bush?" Barry pointed to the bush that Lucas had indicated towards.

"Only once Dawn's done changing."

Barry looked a little dismayed about that part.

When the two finally got changed, the group was finally able to set out on their nocturnal journey to Oreburgh City.

"So how long will this trip take?" Barry asked.

"I don't have a light so I can't tell you."

"Here, try this," Lucas said as he let his Chimchar out. "Chimchar, use ember so Dawn can see."

:Chim:

"Thank you Chimchar, that makes it much easier to see." Dawn turned to Lucas and mouthed "thank you".

"No problem, anything to shut Barry up."

"According to the map, it should only take us three hours to get there."

"Don't even say anything Barry; I want silence just to be sure we aren't being followed."

"Okay Chavez."

"What's he mean by that?" Dawn asked.

"Chavez was a character who checked to see if anyone was following him and his team in a book of Tom Clancy's. It was called Clear and Present Danger."

"Out of all the books I've read, I don't think I've read that one."

"Do you read often?" Lucas asked the girl.

"Yes, my family values knowledge and intellect."

"Alright, now everyone just shut up. Are you done with that map?"

"Yes."

"Chimchar, light the way."

The group then walked the rest of the way, in silence. They got to Oreburgh City around 4:50 in the morning and decided to stay at the pokemon center. Nurse Joy looked a little shocked to have trainers come in at five in the morning.

"Well I can't say that I have people come in this early in the morning," Nurse Joy said.

"We didn't intend to get up as early as we did," Lucas said.

"How did you get up so early?"

"We'd rather not talk about it. Could we just have a room, we've been walking since about 2:00."

"Of course, you'll have the room at the end of the hallway," she said as she handed Lucas the room keys.

"Alright people, let's get some rest."

Dawn and Barry both nodded.

The group was just beginning to go to sleep when the sun was rising.

A/N: I know this chapter is short, but don't shoot me. The story will be on hiatus until Sunday, 22 June. Hopefully, though I'll be able to get my hands on a computer in that time. By the way, my timezone is mountain time zone. And I forgot, to mention in any other chapters, but feel free to review.


	5. Getting Ready

The First Stone

Getting Ready

"Get up Lucas," Barry said as he nudged his sleeping companion.

"Five more minutes, mom…"

"Dawn, you might want to close your eyes,"

"Why?"

"Here's why." And Barry proceeded to jump on Lucas.

"Oi! What in hell's name gave you the idea of doing that!?" Lucas yelled at his friend.

"The reward of seeing you get up, sleeping beauty," Barry joked with him.

"Well, since I'm up, what time is it?" Lucas asked.

"10:30," Dawn answered before Barry could.

"How long have you two been up?"

"Barry got up around a half-hour ago, and I woke about twenty minutes ago."

"And you both got showered and dressed without waking me up? I must say, you two must have been rather quiet"

"Yes, we both got showered and dressed and the shower is rather quiet," Dawn answered.

"While you two go eat breakfast, I'm going to get showered and dressed, I think I need it after what happened this morning," Lucas said, yawning.

"Sure, I'm starved and Barry over here says he's dying."

"Don't listen to Barry, he stretches the truth occasionally."

"Can we just hurry up and eat?" Barry said, sounding slightly agitated.

"Run along you two, I prefer to take my showers alone ever since the time where Barry threw a shoe at me while I was in the shower."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, now go."

Dawn turned to leave and she met Barry just outside the door. While they were walking down the hall, Lucas heard Dawn asking Barry about something involving "shoe" and "shower".

_Finally, I can wash up…_

Lucas looked around and started for the shower. He only took ten minutes, to get his hair shampooed and clean his body after walking for a whole day.

When he walked out of the bathroom an idea crossed his mind.

_Maybe I should go on a panty raid…_

Lucas thought about if for a minute.

_Nah, I mean, I'm sure it would be interesting, until Dawn punched me…_

"There goes all the fun for today…" Lucas said to himself.

After another ten minutes, Lucas was dressed and heading downstairs. He joined his compatriots at the table to eat. He looked over at Barry and had to keep himself from laughing. Dawn however had a look of awe on her face.

Lucas leaned over to her and asked, "And how long has he been eating like that?"

Not turning her gaze from Barry she said, "About twenty minutes."

"Give him another ten minutes and he'll be in the bathroom."

In the meantime, Lucas went over to get himself some food. When he got back, he wolfed down his food (although did chew it, unlike Barry). When he was finished, he looked at his watch and started counting down.

"Five…four…three…two…one…zero."

As if on cue, Barry rushed over to the bathroom.

Dawn and Lucas started laughing at how Lucas knew his friend's own eating habits better than Barry did.

Five minutes later, Barry was out with a smile on his face.

"Alright, I'm feeling much better. So, where do we go today?" he asked.

Lucas replied first. "To the gym and see if it's open," he replied.

"Before we leave, I just want to tell Nurse Joy, that we'll be staying another night at the pokemon center," Dawn said as she stood up.

"Good idea, I don't want to sleep outside after what happened this morning," Barry said.

Dawn walked over to the counter and started talking with Nurse Joy. A minute later, she came back with a dismal look on her face.

"After, what happened in Jubilife City, trainers are only allowed to stay in a pokemon center for one night per visit," she said.

"So what do we do?" Lucas asked.

"Bribery," Barry suggested.

"No, you moron. Besides, I'd never live with myself, if I did that," Lucas said to his friend.

"Well, I do come from a wealthy family, and I came loaded with cash, so I could probably rent a hotel room for us for a night."

Barry chuckled. Lucas smacked him across the head… again.

"Alright, but let's see if the gym is open and if not, then we can go train our pokemon and maybe catch some as well," Lucas suggested.

"Good idea," Dawn said.

"To the gym!" Barry said loudly.

The trio had to spend a half-hour looking for the gym. When they finally found it, Barry ran over to the sign and tried to figure out what type of pokemon the gym leader used.

"Leader: Roark. Call me Roark the Rock. The gym looks closed," Barry read off the sign.

"Sounds like he uses rock pokemon," Dawn said.

"Well, you two are shoe-ins for this badge," Lucas said.

"I still think we should train," Dawn suggested.

"I agree with Dawn," Barry stated.

"Well then, where do we go to train?" Lucas asked.

"How about just north of the city," Dawn suggested.

"Eh, why not?" Lucas said.

"Perhaps we can capture some pokemon, too," Barry suggested.

"Let's go then," Lucas said.

And so the trio left the city to train their pokemon. They only needed to walk ten minutes to find a patch of tall grass, in which wild pokemon could be found.

"Whoo, pokemon, here I come!" Barry shouted as he ran into the grass, waving his arms like a madman. He was back out in five minutes, tossing a pokeball. "Yeah, I got a Starly," he said.

"That's rather strange," Dawn said.

Barry and Lucas looked at Dawn, confused.

"What do you mean?" Barry asked.

"Starly normally aren't found in this part of Sinnoh," she replied.

"Perhaps they're migrating through here," Barry said.

"No, Starly wouldn't be migrating during the middle of summer," Lucas said. "Something must have driven them here."

"It doesn't matter right now. We can tell Prof. Rowan later anyway," Barry said. "Now come on, or we'll never beat the pokemon league."

"Alright Barry," the two said.

_I still don't like the fact that there are pokemon here that aren't here normally…_

Lucas started whistling the Twilight Zone theme. Looking at his companions, he lost sight of them as a wall of grass separated the three trainers.

_Well, let's see what I can find here…_

Lucas had to spend several minutes looking for pokemon before he stumbled on a Hoothoot.

_Well I do need a pokemon that can fly…_

"Chimchar, come on out!" Lucas said as he threw the pokemon's ball into the air.

:Chim:

"Chimchar, I want you to weaken that Hoothoot, don't knock it out, just weaken it so I can catch it. The pokemon nodded and proceeded to sneak up on the bird. When it was right behind the bird, it plucked out some of the pokemon's feathers.

Naturally, the pokemon turned around and unleashed a barrage of pecks onto the fire monkey.

"Chimchar, scratch it close to the eyes, so it can't see." Lucas said calmly, a plan already forming in his head. Chimchar listened to Lucas and scratched the Hoothoot right next to its eyes. Fearing that it would lose them, the Hoothoot, started flailing about with its eyes closed.

"Chimchar just stay away from the bird and wait until it wears itself out." Lucas told the pokemon. The battle had turned into a waiting game. After ten minutes, the Hoothoot fell onto the ground, panting and wheezing.

Lucas threw a pokeball at the tired bird and it looked at him and just raised its eyebrows in a "oh well" kind of way. The ball easily got its three shakes.

"Good job Chimchar." Lucas then returned the pokemon in a flash of red light.

_Well, now I have another pokemon to look after and to keep the other two safe…_

Lucas then put the pokeball in his backpack.

_Wonder how the other two are doing anyway…_

Suddenly, Dawn fell through the grass at Lucas' feet.

_Well that answers one question, yet raises so many more…_

"Dawn, what are you doing on the ground?" Lucas asked as he helped her off the ground.

"Tripped on a rock."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Don't get defensive on me!"

"Don't be so condescending!"

"What I meant was, what were you after when you tripped over the rock."

"Oh."

"So… what were you after before you fell on the ground?"

"A Shinx."

"Good pokemon to have, they become very powerful if trained properly; which I'm sure you will."

"But of course," Dawn replied.

Suddenly someone fell through the wall of grass. It was Barry.

"Hey guys, I just caught a Shinx!" he said quickly.

Lucas couldn't help but laugh at the irony. When he was done laughing, he told Barry about how Dawn had just tried to catch a Shinx and how it had escaped from her.

"Tell you what Dawn," Barry said. "I'll go catch another one and I'll let you have it."

"Deal," The girl said.

Barry was back in five minutes. He handed Dawn a pokeball.

"Here you go."

"You did catch a Shinx, right?"

"What, did you want me to catch a Wailord?"

"I'll just take your word," Dawn joked.

"Let's see how the two pokemon stack up," Lucas said as he tossed the two trainers potions.

"Go, Flash!" Barry said as he let the Shinx out.

"Come on out Shinx!"

Barry leaned down to his pokemon's ear.

"Flash, I want you to match your opponent blow for blow."

Dawn was already waiting on Barry when he finished his speech to his pokemon.

"So who goes first?" Barry asked.

Lucas, being self-appointed referee, said, "Ladies first." He then nodded at Dawn and said, "Let the battle begin."

"Alright Shinx, tackle," Dawn said calmly.

"You know what to do, Flash!" Barry shouted.

The two pokemon started running towards each other. Neither was going to play chicken with the other. Half-way between the two trainers, the two pokemon collided. And now it came down to a contest of push-to-shove.

"Get lower, Shinx."

As, Dawn's Shinx got lower, so did Barry's.

_I see what he's doing… Barry's just going to match Dawn's Shinx in a contest of strength._

Dawn had also figured Barry's strategy out as well; a smirk had crossed her face.

"Shinx, break off and flee."

"Give chase Flash!" Barry shouted.

"Alright Shinx, use thunder wave."

"Stop, Flash!" Barry yelled at the pokemon, but it was too late, Flash ran right into its opponent. Shinx used the opportunity to unleash an electrical charge through Flash. Flash tried moving away, but it was futile, he was paralyzed,

"Shinx, bite the legs."

Barry didn't know what to do; his pokemon couldn't move and he didn't know how to stop Dawn's Shinx from attacking. Then a smirk crossed his face

"Wait for Shinx to get close and then use head but!" Barry shouted.

Shinx was closing in fast, fangs bared. Flash waited until Shinx was a few inches from its face and then used the energy it had left and slammed its head into its opponent's head.

_That was clever; he used his pokemon's disability to set a trap…_

Both pokemon were swaying from the collision. They collapsed at the same time, both could be seen breathing.

"Neither pokemon is able to battle; the match is a draw," Lucas said as he looked at the two trainers.

"I must say, I've never seen a battle go that way," an unknown voice said. The source of the voice soon manifested itself; a boy, slightly older than Lucas stepped through the veil of grass. He had white hair and wore a head band that covered his forehead. He wore Hoenn League colors; red and black, which were the colors of his long-sleeve shirt and pants. He was wearing fingerless gloves and had ruby colored eyes.

"Brendan, where are you?" another new voice called out; it was female, that much could be sure.

"Over here!" he shouted back.

A girl walked through the grass. She was wearing a red bandanna covering her hair, wore a red short-sleeve shirt, a white skirt and black shorts underneath that extended below the skirt.

"Jeez, you can't find anything in this tall grass," the girl said.

"Except for pokemon," Brendan joked.

"Excuse me you two, but who are you?" Lucas asked.

"Oh I'm sorry. My name's Brendan," the boy said.

"And I'm May," the girl said.

"I've heard of you two!" Barry said, clearly excited. "Brendan, you and May placed both first and second in the Hoenn League."

"That's about right," Brendan said.

"So you two are going after the Sinnoh League?" Lucas said.

"Correct," May answered.

"I assume you three are fresh trainers; just got your pokemon," Brendan said.

"Yep," Barry answered.

"Well, since you two are both experienced trainers, do you have any advice?" Dawn finally spoke up.

"The only thing I can really say that will help you is to practice and always keep your opponent at a disadvantage," Brendan answered.

"Can we see you two battle?" Barry asked quickly.

"Sure," the two trainers answered.

"I'll be ref… again."

"Mono e mono?" May asked her opponent.

"Mono e mono," Brendan answered.

"Well in that case, go Blaziken." May said as she threw a pokeball in the air. When it opened, a humanoid, pokemon appeared.

"You're up Rhydon!" Brendan yelled as he threw a ball, but it wasn't a pokeball. The ball was blue on top and had two red areas on the upper half.

_That Rhydon must have been a little bit difficult to catch; he had to use a greatball…_

"Ladies first," Brendan said.

"Blaziken, start off with mega punch." May said.

"Use mega punch as well, Rhydon," Brendan said.

The two pokemon began charging at each other. Something was in their eyes – not anger, nor fury, but perhaps pride. Neither pokemon was going to back down from a challenge.

They met closer to Brendan due to Rhydon being slower than its opposition. It seems that neither wanted to seriously injure each other because the two fists collided in a sickening crunch, yet neither pokemon flinched from the impact.

"Well both pokemon appear to be equal in strength," Barry said to Dawn.

"I guess so, but why would Brendan use a Rhydon? It's got a type disadvantage to Blaziken," she responded.

"It also has a type advantage against Blaziken," Barry argued.

"True."

"I bet Brendan will win," Barry taunted Dawn.

"You're on!" she replied.

Meanwhile, the battle was carrying on.

"Alright then, if that's how you want to play, earthquake!" Brendan was beginning to get annoyed by the fact that Blaziken was faster than Rhydon and was using that to his detriment. Rhydon slammed its fists into the ground causing powerful tremors in the area. Blaziken avoided the attack by lunging at the Rhydon and landing a powerful punch on the chin. Rhydon reeled back from the shock, but was unfazed.

"Blaziken, sunny day!" May yelled. The sun got very bright, oppressively bright. "Alright now, use fire blast!" Blaziken followed up the sunny day with a wave of flame that took the shape of a stick figure without a head.

"Dig Rhydon!" Brendan shouted. The pokemon dug into the ground and avoided the attack.

"Blaziken see if you can find Rhydon!"

Blaziken sat on the ground, closed its eyes and began meditating. It waited there for a few minutes. Then it opened its eyes, and quickly stood up. Not five seconds later, Rhydon appeared where Blaziken was once sitting.

"So you made your Blaziken all-knowing!?" Brendan joked across the field

"Yes!"

Rhydon was having trouble getting out of the ground.

"Double kick! Finish it Blaziken!

As Blaziken came down for the metaphorical death knell, Brendan was smiling.

"You always did put me in corners. Horn drill."

Gravity that had once been Blaziken's ally suddenly became its enemy. The pokemon desperately tried to change its fall, but it was hopeless. It landed right on top of Rhydon, who applied the finishing blow instead of Blaziken. After finishing with Blaziken, he set it down on the ground.

_Well, it appears the two pokemon respect each other deeply._

"Blaziken is unable to battle. The winner is Brendan," Lucas said.

"Clever, very clever," May said disappointedly. "You turned my advantage against me."

"I had to think that one on the spot. For the first time, you had me concerned that I might lose in public."

"You've lost to her before?" Barry asked as he came forward.

"Only when we were squabbling back in Hoenn."

"But whenever people were watching, I could never beat him in a battle," May said.

"You owe me money," Barry said to Dawn.

"What!?" she replied.

"We made a bet on the match."

"Oh yeah… Here you go." Dawn handed Barry twenty dollars.

"I say that we head back to the pokemon center, your pokemon are weakened and May's pokemon is out cold.

"Seems like a good idea. And we can check to see if the gym is open yet," Lucas said.

"The gym is closed?" Brendan asked.

"Right now, yes," Barry answered before anyone else.

"Come on then, I need to tell Prof. Rowan about the discovery of Starly in the area," Dawn said.

The group started towards Oreburgh City. Discussing what they knew about pokemon and Brendan and May's journey through the Hoenn region.

A/N: I won't be able to put up another chapter until Monday night or Tuesday afternoon. I have to pick my mom and brother up at the airport and it's a few hours away, but the flight is arriving at night, so I have to stay up their for the night. Expect more cameos in the future, I'm planning on throwing some more characters by the time the trio get to the Pokemon League.

Other than that, 311 hits and someone else reviewed as well. Don't worry, I'm back on Monday or Tuesday.


	6. The First Step

The First Step

The First Step

The trio along with Brendan and May were heading back to the pokemon center in Oreburgh City. Along the way, the group had mostly listened to Brendan talk about what happened up to getting to Fortree City. After that May took over and talked about what happened leading up to their run in with the trio.

"So you two had to head to the Sky Pillar with Wallace to awaken Rayquaza?" Dawn asked with a huge amount of interest.

"Well we did go with Wallace, but as for the awakening part, an earthquake did the work for us," May said to the girl.

"What happened to Archie and Maxie?" Dawn asked.

"After the Groudon-Kyorge event, the two disappeared," May answered.

While Dawn and May kept up this conversation, the boys were having their own conversation.

"Who all was in the Hoenn League?" Barry asked.

"There weren't many notable contenders, but one trainer gave me problems," Brendan said.

"Who was that?" Lucas asked, suddenly interested in the subject.

"Some guy by the name Ash Ketchum," Brendan answered.

"Do you know what or where he went after the tournament?" Lucas asked.

"Last time I saw him, he was in the Battle Frontier, but I don't know where he went after that."

"Wouldn't he be up here in Sinnoh?" Barry said.

"Why do you say that?" Lucas looked at his friend as he questioned him.

"It would make sense…" Brendan said.

"Why?" Lucas was beginning to get agitated that they knew something he did not.

"Ash Ketchum is the current Kanto and Johto champion," Barry said.

"And Orre is farther north of here," Brendan said.

"Well, then he probably is here," Lucas said.

"Do you know where he is?" Barry asked.

"Do I look like an Alakazam!?"

Lucas took the time to draw lines on Brendan's face (in his mind) until it reminded him of an Alakazam. By the time he finished the arduous (and disturbing) task of thinking of the image the group was at the pokemon center.

"Alright ladies…. And gentlemen, I'll take our injured pokemon in and for the meantime we can see if the gym is open or waste the day away like stoners!" Brendan said loudly as he took their pokeballs into the building. "All those in favor of wasting the day," Brendan said to the group. No one raised their hand. "All those in favor hunting down the gym leader to tell him to get ready for a battle," he said. Everyone raised their hand. "I guess we're going to look for Rock."

"It's Roark," someone said.

"I know that!" he said to the person.

"Are you Roark?" Lucas asked the guy.

"Yes, I'm Roark, the gym leader." He wore a hard hat and had red hair. He was wearing glasses and wore a miner's uniform.

"I guess then that you're the guy we have to beat to get a badge," Dawn said.

"Correct," the gym leader said.

"Well, our pokemon need to rest, but I think that when we're ready, my team could beat you with one pokemon,"

"Don't get overconfident," May said to Brendan.

"Its not overconfidence if it's true," he replied.

"Well we can see if he's bragging or not when his pokemon are ready," Roark said.

"How long is it going to take to heal our pokemon anyway?" Barry asked aloud.

Nurse Joy walked out as Barry asked the question.

"It should only take a few minutes, none of them have serious injuries," she said in her sweet voice.

"And then we can see if just one of his pokemon can take out my entire team," Roark said.

"Well, can we at least see what your team consists of?" Dawn said.

_Leave it to Dawn to get right to business._

"Eh, why the hell not?" Roark said.

He then let out his three pokemon; Cranidos, Onix, and Geodude.

"I know just what to do here," Brendan said to himself.

"I hope I get a miracle," Lucas said aloud. "I don't have anything that will be able to counter rock pokemon."

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Dawn said. "You could always evolve Chimchar, and make it more powerful."

"It won't matter, it still has a type disadvantage," Lucas said to his companion.

"Lucas, you do know that Monferno is also a fighting pokemon and could easily destroy a rock pokemon, well not literally, that might be just a little cruel. And you don't look like the one who would watch someone else suffer." Dawn said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Dawn."

Nurse Joy walked back inside the building and then came back out and said that the pokemon were healed and ready to battle.

"Well then, I guess its time to put your pokemon to the test," Roark said as he led the troupe to the gym.

After the group got to the gym, Roark asked who wanted to go first. Brendan, being the most confident, decided that he should be the first to battle Roark. The group saw no reason to disagree with him.

Upon deciding the matchup, the two competitors took positions up on opposite sides of the field.

"This will be a three-on three battle. The battle is for the Coalbadge. The challenger is Brendan Birch from Twinleaf Town and Roark of the Oreburgh City gym," the referee said.

"Well, this should be a quick battle," Lucas said to his companions and May as he sat down.

_I'm just glad that I don't have to referee the match this time…_

"Well, that's if Brendan's pokemon are as powerful as his confidence is large," Dawn joked.

"So you do have a sense of humor," Barry said from down the row.

"Oh just shut up," Dawn said from the other end of the row.

"Both of you," May said.

"Hmm….. Let's see…. Rock pokemon….. Go Swampert!" Brendan then threw a pokeball and then in a flash a blue, pokemon, somewhat based on a mudpuppy appeared.

"Swampert, let's make this quick."

"Geodude, I think we'll see what he is capable of." Roark then threw a pokeball unleashing what looked like a head, made of rock with arms. "I'll let you have the first move."

"We'll finish this in three attacks, right Swampert," Brendan said confidently. The pokemon nodded its agreement. "Since we agree, let's start off with water pulse."

The pokemon then filled its mouth with water and unleashed it towards the Geodude. While doing so it made an earsplitting sound that disoriented everyone in the room.

"Geodude, try to dodge it." The rock pokemon attempted to move out of the way, but Swampert's attack was fanning out so as to cover the entire field by the time it got to Geodude. Naturally, Geodude had nowhere to go. The attack was so powerful that it pushed the heavy pokemon out of the arena.

The crowd (if you could call the four trainers a crowd) was amazed. Except for May, she expected this after seeing what he had done to Gardenia in Eterna City. This wouldn't be a battle but more of a demonstration of strength.

"Such power," Lucas said, amazed at what he had seen.

"That is what I'm going to be like when I get to the pokemon league," Barry said.

"Wow…" was all Dawn was able to say. "I'd love anybody who could demonstrate that kind of power.

_Bingo!_

"Could you say that again, Dawn?" Lucas said.

Dawn repeated herself.

"Before you get any ideas girl, Brendan is mine," May joined the conversation.

The battle meanwhile was just about to start back up.

"Onix, you're up." Roark then let out a pokemon that was essentially a snake made out of different boulders.

"This will be easy enough. Use earthquake, Swampert." Swampert then dug underground and started doing something that caused the whole arena to shake. Onix lost its balance and fell. The boulders around it started to collapse and began crashing down upon the rock snake. When the shaking was done, The pokemon did not stir.

"Swampert, go help your opponent. Make sure he lives."

Roark meanwhile had a look of fear on his face. Swampert however, was busy tossing the rocks off of his opponent. After, the last rock had been lifted off of the snake, the pokemon finally began to stir. There was a collective sigh of relief throughout the room as everyone knew the pokemon was fine, just unable to lift all the rocks off of its head.

"Does he always battle this way?" Dawn asked May.

"Only when he's certain of victory. Or full of anger. But I don't think he's angry at Roark; he has no reason to be so."

"So if he knows he's going to win, he just steamrolls over them?"

"Pretty much."

"What do you think he will do for dealing with that Cranidos?" Barry asked.

"He'll probably unleash a hydro pump just to demonstrate Swampert's power." May answered the young trainer.

"Well I'm down on my last leg," Roark said. And he threw a pokeball that revealed a pokemon that somewhat resembled a dinosaur with a particularly prominent head.

"Well, here we go. Let's wrap this up – Hydro pump."

Swampert let forth an unimaginable amount of water from its mouth.

"Cranidos, use head smash to cut through the water!" Cranidos began to charge at the water. His head began to have a blue aura appear around it that spread around the body as he began running faster towards what appeared to be impending doom for the pokemon.

"I can't watch," Dawn said as she covered her face with her hands.

"Holy shit!" Lucas swore out loud as the pokemon cut through the water.

"What happened?" Dawn asked, her face still hidden by her hands.

"It actually worked," Lucas said to her.

"Well I guess Brendan overestimated his own pokemon," May said.

"Let's just see where the battle goes from here," Lucas said.

Cranidos was still charging through the water at a high speed. When it finally burst through the hydro pump, it began charging at Swampert. It finally got to Swampert and speared the pokemon in the abdomen with its head. Swampert flew back several feet, but stayed within the boundary.

"Slam!" Brendan ordered his pokemon.

Swampert's arms began glowing white. When they became unbearable to look at because of the light, he slammed them down against Cranidos. It was only able to pull this off because the pokemon was blinded by the light and couldn't tell which way to run.

"Roark is out of pokemon. Brendan Birch of Littleroot Town is the winner," the referee said.

"Well, you were very close to speaking the truth. Instead of three attacks, you had to use four," Roark said to the trainer as he handed him the Coalbadge.

"Here you go Roark," Brendan said as he tossed him three max revives. "You've got a long day ahead of you."

"Let's have May go next," Lucas suggested.

"Fine by me," she replied.

May's match was almost the same as Brendan's, if only quicker. All she had to do was to use her Blaziken to roll over all of Roark's pokemon. Dawn and Barry just had to play the type advantage.

Finally, it was time for Lucas to battle. This is where things finally get interesting…

"Alright, then I guess it's my turn," Lucas said, still trying to find a way to think up a strategy to win.

"Hey man, don't worry, you'll pull through," Barry said as he patted his friend on the back.

_I'll keep Hoothoot out of this fight; it's not exactly his ground._

As the Lucas and Roark took their respective positions on the field, the referee began to speak.

"This will be a battle involving all of each side's pokemon. The battle will be for the Coalbadge. The challenger is Diamond Barbarossa of Twinleaf Town and Roark of the Oreburgh City gym," the referee said.

_So it begins…_

"Go! Chimchar!" As the pokeball opened, the pokemon began dancing. "Now's not the time for fun, Chimchar," Lucas said to the pokemon. The pokemon ceased dancing immediately and began to look serious.

"Geodude, you're up," Roark said as the rock pokemon came out of the pokeball. "Don't worry, this battle should be a little more interesting," he said as the pokemon looked at him uncertainly. "Take the first attack."

_We can't play physical, but let's play cheap._

"Chimchar use ember. Aim for the eyes," he added quietly so only he and his pokemon would know.

"Cover yourself in mud to resist the heat." The rock pokemon began piling mud onto itself. While making it heat resistant, it also slowed the pokemon down considerably.

"What do you say we play a game of hide-and-seek, Chimchar?" Lucas asked the pokemon, which proceeded to run out of everyone's view. Geodude began looking around uneasily at its surroundings. Any moment Chimchar could have jumped out at the Geodude and attack it from any direction.

Chimchar came into Lucas' vision; it was behind Geodude.

"Jump on its head!" Lucas shouted.

Chimchar jumped onto the pokemon's head. Geodude proceeded to start hitting the pokemon, or at least trying to. It was actually hitting itself for the most part. Finally it hit one of Chimchar's toes and caught it off guard. Quickly taking advantage of the distraction, Geodude grabbed the pokemon and threw it into a one of the rocks that strew the field. Chimchar disappeared in a cloud of dust. However, in the process, Geodude had done two things: shaken off its heat shield and weakened itself badly.

Something was happening in the dust cloud. None could tell what it was though…

Then a fireball emerged from the cloud, engulfing the rock pokemon.

_Now things are starting to get interesting._

Chimchar then emerged from the cloud dusting itself off.

"Rock throw Geodude!"

"Dodge the attack!"

Geodude picked up some rocks and threw them all over the place in a spray-and-pray like manner. Chimchar didn't have to do much to avoid the attack.

_Hell, let's go with it._

"Scratch!" Lucas yelled out.

"Dodge it!" Roark shouted.

Geodude was too slow to dodge the monkey's attack. Chimchar's paws began to glow white. It was closing in for the attack.

Brendan spit out the drink he was having then said something to the crowd of trainers. Lucas couldn't tell what he said.

"That's not a scratch attack; that's metal claw!" he said loudly to no one in particular.

Chimchar's attack meanwhile had hit Geodude in the face. The pokemon reeled back, crashed into a rock, which fell down upon him and knocked him out.

Geodude was out of commission, but was twitching.

"Geodude is unable to battle; Chimchar is the winner."

"Hey Lucas!" Brendan yelled out at the trainer. "I don't know how, but your Chimchar knows metal claw!"

"I'll keep that in mind!" he hollered back.

Roark meanwhile was pulling out another pokeball.

"Onix, you're up!" As the pokeball opened, the rock snake appeared and roared its appearance out to everyone in the area.

Chimchar, however, did not back down. Its pride kept it from doing so.

"It appears that Chimchar and Lucas both want to impress somebody," Barry said as he leaned back, putting his hands behind his head.

"What do you mean by that?" Dawn asked.

"Oh nothing…"

Lucas meanwhile decided to try and make this battle quick.

"How about you take the first move this time," he said to Roark.

"That works for me," he said. "Tackle."

"Dodge it!" Lucas yelled.

While the serpent descended upon its opponent, Chimchar was running around like a spastic while carrying a rock and heating it up with its flames.

The Onix came crashing upon the ground, all around Chimchar, but not hitting the pokemon.

"Use bind," Roark said.

_Oh shit…_

The snake pokemon began squeezing the monkey, which surprisingly enough, wasn't panicking. Onix's face came around to watch it squeeze the pokemon. Chimchar then threw the rock that it was holding at one of the pokemon's eyes. Onix immediately released the pokemon and began flailing around, destroying most of the arena (not the building).

"Chimchar, use metal claw! Deal as much damage as you can without getting squished."

The monkey pokemon ran up to Onix's face and unleashed a barrage of attacks against it.

In a final flailing of its body, Onix's tail (or body) struck Chimchar, knocking it across the battlefield (a good way to describe the field at this point).

Onix was out cold.

Chimchar meanwhile, emerged from the cloud, different looking. It had blue mask-like forehead, red between the eyes, and a longer tail with a flame on the tip.

"That's two shockers in one day," Brendan said again.

"Onix is unable to battle, uh… Monferno is the winner," the referee said.

"Well, this battle is the most interesting yet," Roark yelled to Lucas.

"I'll agree with you on that," Lucas hollered back.

"Cranidos, you're up!" The dinosaur pokemon appeared and looked confident in victory. It started roaring.

Monferno began beating its chest.

"Well this just degenerated into a contest of egos. At least it will be interesting," Barry said as he sat up.

The two pokemon continued this chest pounding contest for several minutes.

Then the battle really began.

But Brendan had to say something first.

"If what my dad says is true, your Monferno should know mach punch!" he shouted from the sidelines.

"Care to demonstrate Monferno?" Lucas requested of his pokemon.

A rock nearby exploded, Monferno seeming not to move but for a moment.

"I'll just assume that was it and not psychic," Lucas said.

The pokemon shot him a look.

The other pokemon had quit roaring.

"Head but!" Roark ordered his pokemon.

"Dodge the attack," Lucas said calmly. He was much more confident about the outcome of the battle now.

Monferno moved at the very last available moment, almost seeming to taunt the Cranidos.

"Mach punch!"

"Dodge it!"

Cranidos had started to turn, but Monferno had already beaten him to the punch (no puns intended). Then the monkey had appeared in front of Cranidos. Before Lucas could tell Monferno to move, Cranidos had speared Monferno with its head.

_Damn that thing is quicker than I originally thought; guess I'll have to consider that from now on._

"Cranidos, use tackle!"

"Back up Monferno!"

Just when it seemed that Cranidos was going to hit Monferno, the monkey pokemon jumped on top of a rock. Cranidos, with its head down, ran straight into the rock, knocking Monferno off.

The four trainers began laughing at the situation of being an agile klutz.

Lucas stifled a chuckle; he didn't want to laugh at his own pokemon. Or at least not during a battle.

"Monferno, put yourself out in the open,"

"Why the hell would he do that?" Dawn asked aloud.

"I think we'll find out soon," Brendan answered.

"Cranidos, head smash!"

"Monferno, heat up the ground!" Lucas shouted towards the pokemon.

As the bluish aura started to cover Cranidos, Monferno began to heat up the ground, causing the air to begin to start waving like a road on a sunny day.

"Alright, start moving around," Lucas said with a smirk on his face.

With the waves of heat, and Monferno's movement, it became difficult for Cranidos to tell where exactly Monferno was. This became apparent to the trainers in the stands when Cranidos crashed into the rock behind Monferno.

"Follow up, with mach punch."

Monferno quickly landed a punch on the back of Cranidos' head. For all the armor the pokemon had on its head, it had none on the back of it. Its pupils dilated and it collapsed. The pokemon was still breathing, and eventually it stood back up and collapsed again, smiling at Monferno.

"Cranidos is unable to battle. Lucas Barbarossa of Twinleaf Town is the winner."

"Here you go," Roark said as he handed Lucas the Coalbadge.

"Thank you," Lucas said in a respectful tone.

The crowd meanwhile had swarmed around Lucas congratulating him on winning and more so on how his battle was at least interesting. Dawn gave him a hug, naturally when Barry made his comment on the situation, the two separated immediately, Lucas blushing and Dawn saying she had no affection for Lucas.

After the cheering was done and the group was out of the gym Lucas turned to his friend and asked, "How did I pull this one off?"

"Because we're winners man, fucking winners, yeah."

A/N: Yes it's a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short (I'm so sorry for that pun). We shouldn't see Brendan and May for a while now, but in later chapters (at least eight or so chapters away) there will be more characters from the pokemon universe.

Thank you for those of you who have put this on your favorite stories and story alerts lists. It gives me a good reason to go on (well I'd do that anyway).

If you think there are things that could be done to make this story better, leave a review, I read them often and use them to help me plan out each chapter most of the time.

So, R&R.


	7. RockPaperScissors

Rock-Paper-Scissors

Rock-Paper-Scissors

"So Lucas where do we party?" Barry asked.

"Is that all he ever thinks about?" Dawn asked Lucas.

"Pretty much. And we can party after we take the Sinnoh League by storm." Lucas answered his two companions.

Dawn looked at the sky and said, "I didn't think we spent that long in the gym." The sun had already begun to set in the sky.

Lucas looked at his poketch and said, "Wow, it's already five-thirty; happy hour."

"We can't drink you nutcase!" Dawn said loudly.

"I'm still kind of hungry," Lucas said back.

"And I'm starving you two," Barry said as his stomach rumbled.

"Come to think of it, I'm rather hungry, too," Dawn said, looking down at her stomach.

"Then let's eat," Lucas said.

"Where?" Dawn asked.

"Um…" Lucas thought out loud.

After several minutes of thought, the group decided on J.C.I. Friday.

"What's the J.C.I. mean?" Barry asked.

"Jesus Christ Its," Lucas answered.

"Is there one nearby?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, and we can walk to it in five minutes."

"Well then let's go!" Dawn shouted in a kind way.

The group found the restaurant after just a few minutes of avoiding traffic.

"It appears we're here before the crowd," Barry said.

It was true; not many cars were in the parking lot. The group walked inside and was quickly seated.

"What are you getting?" Lucas asked Dawn across the table.

"What are you getting?" Dawn asked him.

"I asked you first."

"You got me on that one. I'm probably going to get the chicken tenders. Now, what about you?"

"I'm getting the steak."

Dawn then turned to Barry and said, "What about you?"

"I prefer girls."

"Not your sexual preference you idiot! What are you going to order?" Dawn said.

Lucas however was trying to stifle a laugh from his friend's absent-mindness.

Dawn caught Lucas chuckling however.

"What are you laughing at?!" she asked harshly.

"I just remembered a joke I read a few days ago."

"Sure, why don't you tell me then?" she said, thinking she had him beat.

"Okay. Here it is: Two hunters are in the woods when one of them collapses. He's not breathing and his eyes are glazed over. His friend calls the emergency services and says 'My friend is dead.' The guy on the other side of the line says, 'Can you make sure he's dead.' Silence. Then a shot is heard. The hunter then says, 'Now what?'"

Dawn stopped pondering strangling Barry and was holding her sides in laughter. Barry was falling over on Dawn from laughing.

"Where did you get that joke?" she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Wikipedia," Lucas answered. "I could tell you a lot more, but I think I'll save them for stressful situations."

"Comic relief," Dawn said.

When the time came and the food was ordered and served, the group was mostly just eating rather than speaking to each other.

After they finished, Dawn was the first to speak.

"I feel stuffed. Do I look like I gained weight?"

"Nope you still look great to me," Lucas answered. Dawn began blushing. Clearly, Lucas was in a good mood.

Barry was trying to cram down one last bite of food into his mouth. After a few minutes of trying, he finally got it in his mouth.

Dawn and Lucas meanwhile were watching Barry in this endeavor.

"So… does he always make like a Munchlax with his food?" Dawn asked.

"Yep."

A waiter walked up. "I assume that you are ready to leave?"

"Yes," Lucas answered in a good tone.

"Cash or check?"

Lucas handed the waiter the required money from the menu. The waiter turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Lucas said as the waiter was walking away. "Here have a tip."

"Damn! Thanks for the tip."

"No problem. Hope you have a good a day as we have."

"Now, where are we staying?" Barry asked after seeing Lucas pay the tip.

"How about the hotel on the west side?" Dawn suggested.

"Seems fair. What's it like?" Lucas asked.

"Not shabby, not just for aristocrats," Dawn answered.

"Do they have free breakfast?" Barry asked.

Dawn sighed. "Yes, they have free breakfast."

"Well, then let's go; I've already paid the check and given the waiter a healthy tip."

The group got up and left the restaurant.

"Wow, look at the moon," Dawn said. She was looking at the full moon that was rising towards the center of the beautiful night sky. Not a cloud could be seen and the stars were shimmering. "It's beautiful tonight."

"Sure is," Lucas said as he looked up.

The trio walked in silence to the hotel.

Until Lucas decided to crack a joke.

"Anyone willing to take a bet on getting attacked tonight?"

"No thanks," the other two replied.

When the group got to the hotel, Dawn, being the most eloquent, checked the group's room.

"You'll be on the 16th floor," the clerk told Dawn as she handed her the key cards.

"Alright, and thanks," Dawn said as she went back to the two boys.

The group went up to their room; 1634.

Then the issue arose.

"Who's going to sleep with who?" Barry asked aloud.

"I'll sleep with Dawn," Lucas said.

"Sleep with Barry," Dawn said.

"I love Barry, but not in that way. Besides, why don't you sleep with him?" Lucas said to her.

"How about we settle this by rock-paper-scissors?" Dawn suggested. "If I win, I get to sleep by myself, if you two win, then you don't have to sleep with each other."

Barry and Lucas thought this over for a minute.

"Fine," they both said.

"Lucas, you've always been good at this game; why don't you represent us?" Barry whispered in his friend's ear.

"Good idea," he whispered back.

"Alright Dawn, we'll play, but I'll represent for Barry and myself."

"Fair enough."

So Dawn and Lucas played rock-paper-scissors. Lucas, with his natural skill, won. Dawn had a look of dismay on her face. Barry was beside himself with joy, and Lucas was having a battle in his mind.

_Well now, we have an interesting situation on our hands here. It's not everyday that a man finds himself in this situation… Too bad for Barry, now I have to go against him though…_

"Now we have to decide who gets the bed to themselves," Lucas said, turning on Barry.

"How about I just get the bed and you get Dawn?" Barry whispered to Lucas.

"Because if we did that, I'd look like a pervert, if we just play the game, we can play the field without worry."

"Good point," Barry replied to Lucas.

"Oh and if you win, you get the bed, by yourself," Lucas whispered.

"And if you win, you get the bed with Dawn, damn you're lucky, but I don't care; I'm too sleepy to care at the moment."

The two friends played the game. Just to be sure that they both got what they wanted, Lucas and Barry agreed on what they both would end up on. And to cement it, they played the game in front of Dawn.

"Well it appears Barry got what he wanted," Lucas said to Dawn after the game.

"And what about you?" Dawn asked him.

"I'm indifferent."

_Hell yes!_

And so the group got changed into their pajamas.

Lucas looked at his poketch and noticed that it was only a quarter after nine.

"Hell, it's not even ten yet; I say we watch some television," Lucas said to his companions.

"Sure, but what are we going to watch?" Barry asked.

"The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should be on by the time ten o'clock rolls around," Lucas said to Barry.

"I usually don't watch a lot of television, what are those shows about?" Dawn asked.

"It's just the news," Barry said.

"But its funny," Lucas finished for his friend.

"I wonder what they will talk about tonight…" Dawn thought out loud.

"At the very least, they will talk about this morning's incident,"

Lucas said.

"Well let's see what they have to say about the incident," Dawn said in a resigned manner.

"I'm sure you all have heard about the Team Galactic's thievery and kidnappings across the Sinnoh region," the host of the show said. "Well recently, they decided that live pokemon weren't good enough and that selling dead pokemon would be a lot more profitable. I don't understand the logic, but then again, nothing they ever did makes sense. For you see, early this morning, the group attacked a pokemon center."

The group was laughing at how it did seem stupid to attack a pokemon center.

_It seems a lot funnier to them because they don't know what it really was about. I won't tell them; I don't want to frighten them. And anyway, I would never let anything happen to Dawn or Barry; for if something happened to either of them, I would never forgive myself and if either was kidnapped, I would chase them down to the ends of the earth…_

For the rest of the time until ten o'clock, the group was laughing at the news and how the two shows portrayed it.

By the time the shows had ended, the group was getting tired from having fled to Oreburgh City, battling for an entire day and laughing their asses off.

Before the light was turned off though, Dawn had something to say.

"Lucas if you try anything while we are in this bed together, I will never say anything to you for the rest of the time we are traveling together."

"Fine, if that's what makes you happy. I swear not to do anything except sleep in this bed," he said.

"Good," Dawn said.

"Can I turn out the light now?" Barry asked in a yawn.

"Sure."

"Good; I'm tired."

Barry turned out the light and almost immediately, everyone fell asleep.

Everyone except Lucas.

_I wonder if they'll attack us again tonight…_

Lucas slept uneasily that night.

Dawn woke up and looked over at Lucas. He was sweating and every few seconds he would roll over and then roll back over.

Dawn thought he was faking it until she realized that he was muttering something in hi sleep. However, she couldn't tell what he was saying.

"Barry, get up," she whispered over to him.

Barry just rolled over and mumbled something about hot dogs.

Dawn sighed. Then she picked up one Lucas' shoes and threw it at Barry.

It hit him on the head.

"It's just like in _Welcome Home! _ I'm going to die in my sleep!" he yelled out.

"Shut up you moron!" Dawn hissed across the room.

"Oh, it's just you; I actually thought someone was going to whack me in my sleep," Barry said to Dawn.

"If you don't shut up, I'll kill you while you're awake. Look at Lucas."

Barry looked at Lucas and said, "He must be having great sex in his dream."

Dawn threw another shoe at Barry.

"Sober up you goon," Dawn said.

"I am sober."

"Then be serious. Now do you know what's going on with Lucas?"

"Well I've already given you my first guess." Dawn glared at him. "But, he could be having a horrible nightmare," he added on as Dawn picked up one of her boots.

"Should we wake him up? I don't want him to suffer," she said as she looked over at Barry.

"I didn't know you cared about him so much," Barry joked with her.

"I don't its just…"

"That you care about him," Barry said.

"No, it's that I don't like to see anyone suffer," she retorted.

"Well then wake him up," Barry said, beginning to realize that no one was joking and Lucas was actually in trouble. "Actually, let me wake him up, I know just what to do."

Barry quickly hopped out of his bed and jumped on Lucas.

Lucas woke up instantly.

"What the hell are you doing?! He shouted after Barry landed on him.

"Let's just say that you were about to practice roll out on the bed," Barry said as he got off of Lucas. "I'm going to assume that you were having a nightmare."

"Well, that part is true."

"What was it about?" Dawn asked.

"I couldn't tell what was going on, but it had something to do with Mt. Cornet. That was the scary part; I couldn't tell what was going on."

"Is there anything you need bro?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, a sleeve of Oreos."

"Don't joke around," Dawn said.

"No, I'm serious, I need something sweet," Lucas said.

"Well, we'll get you some Oreos in the morning," Barry said.

"What time is it anyway?" Lucas asked a loud.

Barry looked at the clock on the night stand.

"Its four-thirty, so what do we do now Lucas?" Barry said.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to sleep for a couple of more hours." Lucas said.

"Good idea. Barry, we might as well follow suit."

A/N: This is probably one of my favorite chapters so far. I know it's short (not as short as Ch. 4), but it's pretty good in my opinion.

If there is one thing though that got to me, it was a lack of new reviews. So, feel free to review. And just so you know I think I have anonymous reviews enabled, so more can tell me what they think. Just don't flame the story.

So…. R&R

And I don't own any of the shows, websites, songs, or the joke used in the restaurant.


	8. Familiar and Unfamiliar

A/N: Whoa, the notes are at the top

A/N: Whoa, the notes are at the top! On to business; Brenediction, I have something special planned for the role Lucas' father, but it won't be revealed until the group gets to Hearthome City. So, what did you think people think of the last chapter? Now, onto what the real business is…

Familiar and Unfamiliar

The sun rose. Dawn, who slept facing the window, was the first to open her eyes and get ready for the day ahead of her.

"Guess I'm the only one up… Well, at least we weren't attacked last night," she said to herself.

Barry was beginning to rustle. He was lying down on his stomach when he woke up. He lifted his head up and looked around.

"G'morning Dawn," he said as he looked over at Lucas and Dawn.

"Likewise," she replied.

Dawn went to the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.

When she came out of the bathroom, she was dressed in her usual attire.

"I'm going to get those Oreos that Lucas wanted last night," she said as she picked up one of the room keys.

"Alright, I'll make sure Lucas doesn't have a nightmare."

Dawn left the room.

Barry looked at Lucas, who was beginning to stir.

Finally the boy opened his eyes.

"It's about time you woke up," Barry joked.

"Where's Dawn?" Lucas asked as he sat up.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Barry, where is she?"

"You're no fun. Anyways, she went to get some Oreos."

"Because of what happened last night." It was not a question.

"Bingo."

"So, how long has she been gone?"

"Five minutes; she should be back soon."

Suddenly the lock on the door clicked. Both boys turned their heads and each drew a pokeball. The door opened and Dawn walked into the room. A feeling of relief pervaded the room.

"Speak of the devil," Barry said.

"I assume you two were talking about me," Dawn said as she handed Lucas a pack of Double Stuff Oreos.

"Why didn't you get me anything? I helped," Barry complained.

"Maybe when you have a horrible nightmare, we'll help you," Dawn answered.

"But I never have nightmares…" Barry whined.

"Here you go…" Lucas said as he tossed Barry a couple of Oreos.

"Thanks man."

"So Lucas, where are we going to travel to tonight?" Dawn asked.

Lucas picked up the map and looked at it for a while. "Well, I don't think you guys want to stay in Jubilife City again. And Floaroma Town isn't very far from Jubilife, but if we want to head that way, we'll have a good day of walking ahead of us."

"Seems good," Barry said as he got dressed.

"You guys go get some breakfast; I'm going to get dressed," Lucas said.

As Barry got his scarf, Dawn noticed that Barry didn't care if people were around when he was changing. Lucas however wouldn't take an article of clothing off in anyone was around.

"That's odd," Dawn said to herself.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"You two are almost complete opposites, but you're as close as brothers," she answered.

"True," Lucas said. "I'll catch up with you two," he said as Dawn and Barry left the room to get breakfast.

Within a few minutes, Lucas was dressed and he was heading downstairs while whistling the Rolling Stones' _Satisfaction._ When he got down there, he found Barry doing his normal morning ritual; eating to the point of sickness and then heading to the bathroom.

"Here we go again," Dawn said as Lucas sat down.

"How long?" Lucas asked.

"Just a few minutes."

"For his sake, we'll be gone by that time that he starts feeling sick," Lucas whispered to her.

After Barry finished his sixth serving, Lucas decided that it was time to go. Naturally, Barry objected, but Lucas and Dawn eventually persuaded him that six servings would be enough until lunch, which they could have in Jubilife City.

"Everything packed?" Lucas asked after making sure that his things were gathered.

"Yep," Barry answered.

"Same here."

"Well then let's get out of here," Lucas said as her turned towards the door.

"Did we get the keys?" Dawn asked aloud.

"Nearly missed those; thanks Dawn," Lucas said as he smiled at her.

"Don't worry."

And so the trio left the hotel and began traveling through familiar territory. Nothing was on the path to Jubilife City; the group didn't see a pokemon or a person.

"Have you noticed anything…strange?" Barry said as the group walked by a small lake.

"Not really; care to fill me in on what I've been missing," Lucas said.

"Have either of you seen anything on the path?" Barry questioned the two trainers.

"No," they answered almost in unison.

"Exactly, we haven't seen anyone since we left Oreburgh City. And that was two hours ago. Well, if you don't want to include that one guy in the Oreburgh Gate."

"What are you trying to say?" Dawn said quickly.

"What I'm trying to say is, I guess we should just be wary of Team Galactic."

"Shoot!" Dawn said as she put her hand on her face.

"What is it?" Lucas asked.

"I forgot to tell Prof. Rowan of the Starly we found," Dawn said.

"Can't you just tell him when we get to Jubilife City?" Lucas asked.

"I could, but I still should've told him back when we had first encountered the Starly."

"Don't beat yourself up," Barry said as he slapped Dawn on the back.

"I'm not; it's just that I like it when things are perfect."

"It's like what the Rolling Stones said; you can't always get what you want," Lucas said.

"You really like that band, don't you?" Dawn asked.

"How did you know?" Lucas said.

"You were whistling _Satisfaction _when you came down for breakfast this morning."

Lucas thought back to this morning.

"Yep, I was whistling _Satisfaction_, but the Rolling Stones aren't my favorite band."

"Well, then who is?" Dawn asked.

"I'm not sure if it's The Who or Boston," Barry whispered into Dawn's ear.

"Probably Boston. But then again, I also like The Who," Lucas said after a few moments thought.

"Told ya,"

"Guess you're right," Dawn whispered back.

When the group got to the city, Barry's stomach began to rumble. The group decided to visit Barry's uncle again. After they finished eating, Dawn and Barry were waiting for Lucas to pay the check. When he walked out, he was carrying a few bottles.

"We can't drink; we're not old enough!" Dawn said as Lucas handed each of them a bottle.

"You're not Irish, are you?" Lucas said as he opened his bottle.

"No I'm not an alcoholic," Dawn replied. She still hadn't opened her bottle.

"Relax, its just cream soda," Barry said as he took a swig.

"Oh, well in that case, cheers," Dawn said.

The three tapped their bottles together. After they were done the group once again was on their way to Floaroma Town.

Near the outskirts of the city, the group noticed a familiar face.

"Prof. Rowan!" Dawn shouted as she ran to him.

The two boys had to run to keep up with her.

"It's good to see that you're all in good health," Rowan said as he looked at each of the trainers. "I assume that all three of you are going to take on the Sinnoh League?" He asked.

All three nodded.

"Prof. Rowan, something strange happened yesterday," Dawn said.

"Hmm? And what was that?"

"We found Starly in areas that they aren't supposed to be seen in."

"I'll look into it. Where are you three staying tonight; I'll need to know so I can tell you what I find out about the situation."

"We should be staying at the pokemon center in Floaroma Town tonight. How long do you think it should take us to get there?" Lucas spoke up before anyone else.

"It shouldn't take you very long at all to get to Floaroma Town. The only difficult part in the trip should be the Ravaged Path. Which reminds me…" Rowan then handed them a disc.

"What is this?" Lucas said.

"Oh, it's an HM, or hidden machine," Rowan said.

"What does it do?" Barry asked, excited that something was being given to him.

"Well, in this case, it should teach one of your pokemon rock smash."

"I presume that we're going to need it to get through the Ravaged Path," Dawn said.

"Correct. Lucas, has your Chimchar evolved?"

"Yes sir."

"I suggest that you teach your Monferno the move; it should be even more powerful due to the type of the attack and your pokemon are the same," Rowan said.

"Of course," Lucas said.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to my lab and look into what we'll call 'The Starly Incident'. I'll contact you at the pokemon center if I make any discoveries."

The group bid Prof. Rowan adu and was soon back on their way.

It was only a mere half-hour to arrive at the ravaged path.

"I wonder how this path earned its name," Dawn said as they entered the cave.

"Guess we'll find out," Barry said.

As the group walked into the cave, Dawn tripped and started to fall.

Lucas however, was able to catch her before the fall.

Dawn started blushing and said, "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Lucas said.

"I think we know how the path got its name," Barry joked.

The group was able to laugh at the joke and was once again oh its way.

"Light!" Barry shouted as the end of the path was in sight.

"Calm down you maniac!" Lucas jokingly shouted.

Just before Barry exited the cave however, he tripped.

"You alright?" Lucas said as he and Dawn caught up with Barry.

"Yeah, but I could have sworn someone tripped me."

"Well Dawn and I didn't see anything from where we were, so let's just forget about it."

Barry shrugged and said, "Lead the way."

"According to the map, Floaroma Town shouldn't be far from the ravaged path," Dawn said as she looked at the map.

"Good Lord, look," Lucas said.

"What is it?" Dawn asked, taking the map down.

"Is that Team Galactic?" Barry said. He was trying to get a better view by blocking out the sun with his hand.

"Yes," Lucas said. He pulled out a pokeball and enlarged it.

"Don't even think about it Lucas; we're outnumbered and they're pokemon are probably stronger."

"Dawn, I'm not one to let a bunch of pokemon be captured by people who won't even care for them. Barry, you feel like having a little battle?"

"I'm with you on this one," Barry said as he also pulled out a pokeball and enlarged it.

Apparently, one of the grunts had seen the trio. He nudged his partner and motioned towards the group. Both of them walked towards the three trainers.

"Hey you, get away from here," one of the grunts said.

"Make us!" Barry shouted back.

"Don't say we didn't warn you," the grunt said as he and his partner drew pokeballs.

The two grunts let out a Glameow, a pokemon that resembled a cat with a spring for a tail, and a Wurmple, which looked like a worm.

"Barry, you know what you're going to do?" Lucas said.

"Yeah, my Shinx needs a little training anyway," he replied getting a different pokeball.

"Well I know what I'll do."

The two friends let out their pokemon. Barry used his Shinx, while Lucas decided to use Hoothoot.

"Barry, take the Glameow, I'll handle, the Wurmple," Lucas said.

"Got it. You get that Shinx?" the pokemon nodded. "Tackle."

_So it begins…_

"Hoothoot, peck."

As the two pokemon closed in for the attack, the grunts finally spoke.

"You handle the Shinx," Grunt one said.

"Got it. Glameow, double team," grunt two said.

"Wurmple, use poison sting."

As Shinx closed in, Glameow suddenly seemed to surround him.

_Better go help Barry…_

"Hoothoot, use foresight on Glameow and then strike it however you feel like."

Two red beams emerged from Hoothoot's eyes and swept over all of the Glameows. As the beams covered the area, the Glameows disappeared and only one was left. It was right behind Shinx.

"Shinx, turn around!"

"Hypnosis," grunt two ordered.

As Shinx turned around, Glameow started rolling its eyes back and forth. Shinx stood where it was, captured by the Glameow's eyes. It started to have trouble staying awake and after a few seconds of drooping eyelids, it closed them and just fell on the ground and started sleeping.

_Great, now I have to defend Shinx until it wakes up…_

"Hoothoot, make sure that Shinx doesn't get mugged in its sleep."

"Wurmple use stringshot," Grunt one said.

"Glameow, attack the sleeping Shinx,"

Glameow closed in for the attack. Hoothoot, tried to stop the pokemon, but was caught by the silk that the Wurmple was shooting from its mouth.

_We're screwed now… Maybe Dawn was right…_

Then Lucas noticed something, Hoothoot was close enough to Shinx to bite it on the tail.

"Hoothoot, attack your partner!"

"What are you doing?!" Barry asked frantically.

"Trust me."

Hoothoot waggled over to Shinx and bit the pokemon on the tail. Shinx woke up instantly, and shot an evil look at the pokemon it thought that bit its tail.

Hoothoot pretended to be out cold on the ground, leaving the only pokemon around to be the Wurmple that was behind Shinx.

"Jesus, Shinx is pissed off," Dawn said to Lucas as the pokemon descended into what looked like a frenzy.

"That's the point," he said back to her. "Barry, I think you should tell your pokemon when to stop."

"Good idea."

Shinx meanwhile let its rage control it. The pokemon only needed one time to get rid of the Wurmple. It picked the worm pokemon up with its mouth, shook it a little and then threw it into a tree.

"I think that now would be a good time to stop," Lucas said to his friend.

"Good idea- Shinx, ignore the Wurmple, attack the Glameow!" Barry shouted.

"Hoothoot, why don't you help; make sure that Glameow can't use double team."

Shinx came charging at Glameow, which tried to confuse the pokemon by using double team, but Hoothoot, prevented from it from doing so by using foresight.

Glameow, its mind clouded by fear, was backing into a corner. Shinx was still charging at it. It hit the pokemon with his head lowered in a sickening crunch.

_Here we go again…_

Glameow fell to the ground.

"Do you think it's alright?" Barry said as he looked at Lucas.

Glameow started to stir.

"I think it's alright."

"Glameow, return," one of the grunts said.

"You two Wurmple," the other grunt said. "The boss isn't going to be happy about this. I guess I'm not going to get a rare pokemon now…"

"You three run along now."

Lucas and Barry returned their pokemon, and with Dawn, continued their journey to Floaroma Town.

"Look at all the flowers," Dawn said, awestruck.

"Damn," was all that Barry

"We can stop to smell the roses later," Lucas said. "Let's just get to the pokemon center."

"Good idea," Dawn said dismayed.

"Yeah, I guess we do need to patch up our pokemon," Barry agreed.

When they got to the pokemon center, the three got ready for bed almost right away. Well, after they had supper anyway. Then the group got a call from Prof. Rowan.

"I contacted Prof. Birch back in Hoenn and he said that the occurrence of Starly north of Oreburgh City is strange indeed. Have you three any ideas as to why the Starly could be out of their natural habitat?"

Lucas stepped in front.

"Prof. Rowan, just before we got to Floaroma Town, we found a couple of grunts capturing a flock of Starly. However, they weren't using pokeballs, or balls of any sort for that matter," he said.

"You said balls," Barry said behind Lucas' back.

"Shut up Barry," Dawn whispered to Barry.

"So perhaps the Starly are adapting to circumstances beyond their control." It was not a question.

"I would guess so. Do you think that the Starly will upset anything around their new area?"

"We'll just have to wait and see. They might just head back to their native areas once conditions return to normal."

"When we head back through there we'll be sure to check."

"Good idea. How are Barry and Dawn getting along?"

Lucas looked back at Barry and Dawn who were both glaring at each other.

"They're getting along just fine." And with that both the professor and Lucas hung up their respective phones.

Dawn and Barry dropped their glares of each other. Barry yawned and said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed."

Dawn yawned also. "Yeah, I'm getting sleepy, too."

Finally, Lucas yawned. "Damn you, Barry; you've infected us all with you yawning."

"Sorry," he said in a yawn.

After another half-hour of showering, and brushing teeth, the group was laying in their respective beds. Sleep set on quickly.

A/N: More notes. I'll tell you one thing about Lucas' father: he'll explain some of Lucas' beliefs. Aside from that, I heard that no one was getting e-mail alerts, but I believe that the bug was fixed. Oh, and I would've had this up a couple of days ago, but we were having some bad weather here in Wyoming and my internet wasn't working a couple of days ago.


	9. Organized and Dangerous

A/N: I should've updated sooner, but I was busy partying

A/N: I should've updated sooner, but I was busy partying. The joke used near the start is based on a joke amongst my friends. And by the way, this is probably going to be one of the 'darker' chapters in the story. And by that I mean; this is one of those chapters that makes me consider bumping the story up to an M.

Organized and Dangerous

Lucas was the first to rise that morning. He yawned as he stretched.

_Well it appears that nothing exciting happened last night, _Lucas thought as he looked at Dawn's sleeping figure.

_She is beautiful in her sleep…_

Barry woke up and looked around the room.

"It's impolite to stare," he said to Lucas, noticing that he was looking at Dawn.

"Well if the person doesn't know…"

"Just so you know, I've been awake this entire time," Dawn said.

_Oh shit…_

"Okay," Barry replied.

Noticing that Dawn and Barry were beginning to leer at each other, Lucas decided to step in.

"So, I guess today we're going to get to Eterna City?"

The two trainers dropped their death gazes of each other and looked at Lucas. Dawn thought it over a minute.

"Yes," she said.

"Depends, is that where the next gym is?" Barry asked.

"Yep," Lucas replied.

"Then count me in."

"Well, then let's get packed and ready to go," Lucas said walking over to his stuff.

Barry started running for the door. He slipped on the tile and fell on his back though…

Seeing that, Lucas started whistling _Hotel California _by The Eagles.

"I recognize that song," Dawn said in an enlightened sort of way.

Lucas quit whistling and replied, "Everyone does, because everyone loves The Eagles. Well, except for those who haven't heard their music."

"True."

Barry got up off the ground, rubbing the back of his head.

"Damn, my head hurts…"

"Doesn't surprise me," Lucas said.

Barry meanwhile, was rubbing over a knot he head on the back of his head.

"Hey Dawn, do you think you could kiss my boo-boo?" Barry said.

"No thanks," she replied.

"Just ignore the pain," Lucas said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"But it hurts," Barry whined.

"Let's just go…" Dawn sighed.

After a hearty breakfast, the group decided to receive their pokemon from the pokemon center. Then they were able to set out for Eterna City. The group's pace was good until they came to a bridge was blocked off by a battalion of Team Galactic grunts.

"Let's take em all on," Barry said as the group scurried to some bushes to avoid being seen.

"I hear you on that one," Lucas said as he pulled Monferno's pokeball out of his pack.

"Hold on you two," Dawn said as she put her hand on Lucas' shoulder. He looked back at her.

"Good point. Barry, let's see what they're doing here."

The group moved up to a bush that was closer to the grunts when they weren't looking.

Finally, they were able to hear what the criminals were saying to each other.

"I wonder what the others are doing at the wind works," one of the grunts said.

"I don't know, but the commander says that we'll get rare pokemon if we just stay here and don't let anyone get by," another grunt replied.

"So they're at the power station," Dawn said.

"Do you know where that is?" Barry asked.

"Do I look like I know everything?" Dawn hissed.

"Yes," Barry answered.

"My question was rhetorical," Dawn said, trying to control her temper.

"What's rhetorical mean?"

"Dawn, before you blow your top, let's keep cool. Do you have the map?" Lucas asked.

Dawn started to calm down. "Yeah, here you go," she said as she handed Lucas the town map.

"Its not very far to the west," he said as he studied the map.

"Should we go to the plant?" Barry asked.

"It seems like a good idea…" Lucas said, handing the map back to Dawn. "And besides, I don't think that we'll be able to get through that many people with seven pokemon."

"Good point," Barry said.

"So I guess we're going to the plant," Dawn said. It was not a question.

"Yep," Lucas said, clasping his hands to each other.

"But they're will probably be some goons from Team Galactic there," Dawn said.

"Better than going through an army of them," Barry said.

"Barry's right," Lucas agreed with his friend.

Dawn pulled out a pokeball.

"Then let's go kick some ass!" she said. Her voice was full of confidence.

As the group started west towards the wind works, Barry was the first to speak.

"I never expected you to say that," he said.

"You'll find that I'm full of surprises," she replied.

"I got a feeling that we can expect a lot more surprises before we get to the Pokemon League," Lucas said.

The rest of the way to the wind works was in silence; no pokemon were to be seen nor heard. No Starly were flying, no Wurmple were on the trees and not a Bidoof was seen on the stream that was near the path they were walking on.

Finally, they got to the wind works.

Seeing all the wind turbines, Barry decided to make a comment.

"Not like what Brendan mentioned about Goldenrod City back in Johto, is it?"

"Nothing like it," Lucas replied.

As the group neared the main building in the complex, Dawn covered her nose.

"Jesus Christ! Do you smell that?!"

"No. why?" Barry asked.

"Consider yourself lucky, it smells like a bunch of cadavers," she said.

Once at the building Lucas noticed that something was amiss with the door. He began examining it at the hinges.

"What are you doing?" Dawn asked as Lucas studied the hinges.

"My mom always said I was like my dad."

"What's he mean by that?" Dawn asked Barry.

"His dad was a detective," Barry whispered his reply.

"Oh…"

Lucas, upon finishing his examining of the door, stood up.

"Someone has broken in," he said with a slight hint of fear mixed with anger in his voice.

"Should we check it out?" Dawn asked.

"Well perhaps we can figure out what the hell is going on," Lucas answered.

As the group entered the building, a collective gasp arose from the group.

Bodies were everywhere.

"Dear God…" Barry said to himself.

Lucas fell to his knees and began to vomit.

Dawn fell to his side, trying to comfort him. He shook her off.

"We have to find out what the hell happened," Lucas said between pieces of breakfast.

"Better the first time isn't it?" Barry joked with his friend.

Dawn punched him.

"Now's not the time to be funny, people are dead!"

One of the bodies stirred.

Lucas went over to the body and shook it gently.

"What happened here? Who are you?" he asked urgently.

"I'm… the one who…survived… They came in hordes. We tried to resist, but they used their pokemon….as…weapons…"

Upon saying that, the man's eyes glazed over and his body went limp. Lucas put his fingers underneath the man's jaw in attempt to find a pulse. After several minutes he declared the man as dead.

"Check all the bodies, and keep your pokemon out and on guard."

Dawn and Barry nodded.

After ten minutes the trio regrouped by the main entrance.

"Were any of them alive?" Lucas asked, trying to keep his composure.

"Just one, but he is badly burned and beaten," Dawn answered. Barry had the man over his shoulders like a fire man.

"There's not much we can do now…" Barry said grimly.

Dawn nodded her agreement.

"At the very least, we can find out who perpetrated this atrocity and make them pay," Lucas said. His voice was shaking with anger.

Dawn and Barry both drew a pokeball.

"We'll be like the Crusaders of the Middle Ages!" Barry shouted triumphantly.

"What's with him?" Dawn whispered to Lucas.

"One of Barry's ancestors actually was a knight during the Crusades. I think his name was Bohemund or something."

"Uh ha."

"Forget about it for the time being; we have to find out who did this and avenge all these innocent people."

"Better than getting a history lesson…" Dawn said to herself.

After searching for nearly a half-hour, the group was getting despondent about their chances of finding the murderers.

Then they got a little help from the criminals themselves.

"Shh… do you hear that?" Lucas whispered as the group passed a closed door.

"Yeah," the other two whispered back.

Sounds were coming out of the room. It sounded like someone was being tortured. A female voice was emanating from the room; it sounded unforgiving.

"Just let us use some of the power output for our uses!" the woman said.

"Over my dead body," a man replied.

"This is going nowhere; kill him."

A gun could be heard being loaded. Silence followed and then a shot was heard. The shot echoed through the facility.

"So we're dealing with a bunch of psychos?" Barry said in a serious manner.

"What was that!? You two check the door!" the woman shouted.

_Oh shit…_

"Run," was all Lucas said.

The other two didn't have to think twice; all three broke into a run.

It didn't take long for Barry to prove that he was the fastest. It seemed that they would be able to get out of the building when Dawn tripped. Lucas quickly helped her up.

"They're this way!" one of the pursuers shouted.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lucas finally reached the door.

_Shit… Where did Barry go once he got out here?_

"Lucas," a voice whispered from a bush. "Get over here!"

It was Barry whom was in the bush.

"Boy am I glad to see you."

Lucas set Dawn down when he got into the bush.

"What happened to her?"

"I tripped."

The group of people chasing the trio emerged from the building. There were at least ten people in the group. All of them were carrying tommy guns.

"Reminds you of Prohibition doesn't it?" Barry joked.

"I can't say I lived through those years," Lucas replied.

The grunts heard the conversation.

_Oh shit again…_

"Lucas, why don't you use your Monferno to get rid of the guns," Dawn suggested.

Lucas let Monferno out.

"Monferno, use ember on the guns, otherwise we're all going to die."

The monkey pokemon nodded its agreement. Then it let forth concentrated bursts of flame on the guns, making them too hot to wield.

A monstrous pokemon battle followed. During the battle, someone different than the grunts engaged Lucas in battle A woman with red hair, but wearing a slightly different suit than the rest of the Team Galactic members. Here's how that specific battle within the battle went…

_Well now, it appears we're going to have an epic confrontation here…_

Lucas already had Monferno out when he engaged the red-haired woman. The woman sent forth a Zubat.

"You and me boy," the woman said.

"Don't call me boy," Lucas said. "Monferno, ember!"

"Supersonic."

Zubat made a strange noise and Monferno blew several balls of flame from its mouth. Nothing stopped the attacks from hitting each other.

"Follow up with a tackle!"

"Wing attack."

Both pokemon collided into each other. Zubat slammed its wings into Monferno's sides as the monkey pokemon used its full body as a weapon.

As the two pokemon withdrew from each other, a stray bubble beam from Dawn's Piplup hit the Zubat, injuring one of its wings.

"Monferno! Use mach punch!" Lucas shouted, taking advantage of the accidental shift in the battle.

Before the woman could utter an order, Monferno appeared by the Zubat and landed a punch on the pokemon's other wing.

The woman returned the pokemon and let out another pokemon. This pokemon was the evolved form of Glameow; Purugly. The pokemon could easily be described as fat and ugly. However, it made up for its beauties (or lack thereof) with power that Glameow normally wouldn't have.

Before the red-haired woman could bark out an order to her pokemon. Lucas shouted to Dawn, "Dawn what type of pokemon is this?!"

"It's a Purugly, and it's a normal type!" she shouted back.

The woman took the time to attack before Monferno could be told what to do; the hulking feline wobbled over to the monkey and slashed him with her claws.

_You asshole; attack when your opponent is looking…_

"Monferno, jump on the pokemon's back and pull the ears!"

The monkey pokemon smiled and then chased the fat pokemon around and finally jumped onto the pokemon's back. It then started pulling on the cat's ears.

"Purugly! Shake him off!"

The pokemon trotted around for several minutes before just rolling over.

_Ouch…_

However, the monkey pokemon sprang back up and dusted itself off.

_Resilient little guy…_

"Monferno, use mach punch."

"Hypnosis,"

_That's not good…_

"Close your eyes, but keep up the punch!"

Monferno was close enough to Purugly that it could land the punch without Purugly being able to do anything to avert the attack.

"Bite the wrist!"

Just when it seemed that Monferno was going to send its opponent to the ground, the Purugly caught the monkey pokemon by the wrist with its teeth.

"Ember the paws,"

Before the woman could issue an order, Monferno blew several blasts of fire onto the pokemon's feet. The pokemon instantly let go of the monkey's wrist.

"Mach punch and then follow up with another punch.

"Purugly, double slap.'

Both pokemon began attempting to punch or slap the other. The two kept it up for nearly a minute before they backed away from each other.

By this time, both pokemon were panting heavily; Purugly simply because it was not exactly a running pokemon and Monferno because it had already battled several other pokemon.

Also by this time, Barry and Dawn had taken down all of the grunts.

"Need some help?" Barry offered. His pokemon was already back in its pokeball.

"No, I think I'll finish this by myself.

"Suit yourself…"

"Mach punch"

"Scratch."

Both pokemon were tired, but Monferno was able to sum up enough strength to bring one last punch to the fray. It quickly sprinted to Purugly and landed a punch on Purugly's right temple. The pokemon was out cold.

As the woman returned the cat pokemon, a grunt ran up to her.

"Commander Mars, what do we do now?" the grunt asked urgently.

"We leave. The boss won't be happy with this…"

One of the grunts threw a large smoke bomb on the ground and while the trio was busy choking on the smoke, the large group of criminal disappeared.

When the smoke disappeared, only the trio was there and the police were arriving quickly.

"That was the strangest group of people I have ever seen…" Barry said.

_It's going to be a long trip to Eterna City…_

More A/N: I can't believe that I pulled this chapter off in two days. I'll elaborate; I've had company over for the last two days, I've had to practice for football (only part that sucks about playing the sport is the summer practices and workouts), I've been practicing drums for my band (expect to see us in mid-July on the Xbox Live leaderboards), and eating and fixing my Xbox 360 and watching Star Wars while it was on Spike.

Quite the life I lead.

But that's not the point…

A couple of reply to reviews.

Brenediction: Will work a little more on the character's interactions. So far, chapter 8 has been, in my opinion, my worst chapter.

Gaomon15: Thank you for the kind remark.

SynctrainerLucas: Afraid I can't reveal anything about that at the current time.

And one last thing, for the last two days, I've also been reading three books: The Awakening by Kate Chopin (can't say that I liked it, but the school says I had to), The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy (one hell of a good book), and The Exorcist by William Blatty (scariest book ever).

I'm reading the last one just so I can figure out what I'm going to do for the Old Chateau in the next chapter.


	10. The Chateau

A/N: The scary thing about The Exorcist is that it is based off of actual events

A/N: The scary thing about _The Exorcist _is that it is based off of actual events. Anyway, things should simmer down after this chapter, but only for a while. Now here's the bad news (it's not that bad though): after this Tuesday, I don't know how often the updates will be. The good news: I have a computer there, and I should be able to get it working and the connection there should be very good. So don't worry too much. You guys (and girls?) are all great, so here, munch on chapter 10.

Damn that's a mouthful.

The Chateau

When the police had arrived at the wind works, the group had been questioned and then allowed to continue on their way. The group was able to make up for 'lost' time by Lucas overestimating the time it would take them to get to Eterna City. The group didn't have any trouble on the trip until they got to Eterna Forest.

"Reminds you of Ilex Forest back in Johto, doesn't it?" Barry asked as the group walked to the edge of the forest.

"Yes. Does it remind you of Viridian Forest in Kanto?" Lucas replied with a question.

"Absolutely. I wonder if it's a maze inside like Viridian though…"

"What are you two talking about?" Dawn asked, clearly being left out of the conversation between the two friends.

Lucas answered her, "Before Barry and I met, we weren't from the same region. Barry was from Viridian City in Kanto and yours truly was from Goldenrod City in Johto."

"And let me guess; some time before you both met me at Lake Verity, you moved to Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh."

"Correct, it was about…" Lucas trailed off as the thought about when his family moved to Sinnoh. "About… nine years ago."

"And I moved their about eight years ago," Barry said.

"But what about you Dawn? Did you move here" Lucas asked.

"No, my family has been here for around 200 years," the girl replied.

"Damn. What do they do?" Barry asked.

"So far, my family has been mostly scholars."

"Interesting family histories, eh?" Barry said.

"Indeed," Lucas answered him. "Well, let's get going; I want to see the city in something other than the night."

The other two nodded their agreement.

After the group entered the forest, Dawn was the first to comment on the forest.

"Wow… It feels like walking into another world…"

Dawn couldn't have picked a better word. Within the forest, it seemed like the group had walked into an area where time stood still. If one was to look carefully, they could see individual dust particles in the air. It was beautiful and yet at the same time, eerie.

The group was able to navigate without problem for the most part until they neared an abandoned building.

That was when the trouble arose.

Lucas made the group stop.

"Do you hear that?" he asked.

Dawn and Barry cupped their ears. After a few minutes both of them lowered their hand and nodded.

After another minute, Lucas, who had the best hearing, was able to make out voices.

_No… it can't be them…_

"Commander Mars says to bring the three kids to her alive. She says she has something special planned for them when she gets them." A voice said. It seemed to be behind the trio.

Lucas peered over a nearby bush to see if he could spot the owner of the voice. What he saw made him cringe. A good dozen at least were on the other side of the bush. He quietly ran back to the other two.

"We got a problem."

"What is it?" Dawn asked, seeing the urgency on Lucas' face.

"We've got a dozen pissed off guys from Team Galactic looking for us."

"Is that a baker's dozen or a regular dozen?" Barry asked.

"A regular dozen," Lucas replied.

"I can't remember the last time you actually replied to one of my jokes," Barry said.

"Uh guys, I think we should be running from the grunts at this time."

"Right," they both replied.

_Shit, we can't run forever… we need a place to hide… other than a bush or behind a tree…_

As if the forest had heard his thoughts, an abandoned looking building seemed to emerge from the trees.

"Dawn!" Lucas yelled to the girl. "How about we hide here until the grunts pass." It was not a question.

"Shit… I hadn't even noticed that building," Barry said before Dawn could reply.

Dawn looked and saw the building.

"Sure." She replied upon finding the building.

The group quickly darted left and started heading for the building. After jumping a fence, they were all in the front part of the lot. Another minute of running and they were at the front door.

"Oh no," Dawn trailed off.

"What is it?" Lucas asked concerned.

"This building… is the Old Chateau," she said. Fear was obvious. Fear mixed with curiosity and adventure.

"So?" Barry asked.

"According to legend the building is haunted," Dawn said.

"It's just a legend," Barry said.

While Dawn and Barry were having a debate, Lucas was having a war go on in his head.

_So the building's haunted… You can't be killed by a ghost. That's not the point; you don't want Dawn to be afraid. She can fend for herself. But if there are pokemon. She'll be able to handle them. Plus she'll have you and Barry. But if it's ghost pokemon that inhabit the place. It's either hide in the building or be killed by Team Galactic, and they'll make sure it is painful. Here the only pain is in fear…_

Lucas made up his mind.

Dawn and Barry meanwhile had finished their little 'debate'.

"So have you two decided whether the house is haunted or not?" Lucas joked.

"We say 50-50 it's haunted," Barry told Lucas.

"Was it you idea to bet on the outcome?"

"Yes," Barry replied.

Lucas sighed.

"Come on; its better than being skinned alive by a bunch of psychos," Lucas said.

As the group entered the Old Chateau, Barry was the first to notice a difference.

"Does it feel cold in here to you guys?" Barry said as he wrapped is scarf around his neck a second time.

"Not particularly." Lucas said.

"No," Dawn said.

Lucas looked out the window. The grunts had decided to camp outside of the fence.

_Well, I guess we are going to be in here for a while…_

"Come look at this," Lucas said as he looked out the window.

The other two ran to the window. Both, upon seeing the contents of the world outside, sighed in frustration.

Dawn lowered herself and sat with her back to the wall.

"What do we do now?" she asked aloud.

"We wait," Lucas said. He was still looking out the window.

"Jesus, I'm freezing," Barry said, rubbing his hands together.

"Ignore the cold," Lucas said to his friend.

"Hey, you just changed my favorite phrase," Barry whined.

"Are you concerned about the cold anymore?"

"No."

"Exactly," Lucas said.

Dawn laughed a little.

"You two are like brothers," she said.

"Wouldn't be the first time someone has told us that," Lucas said.

"But you are right," Barry finished for Lucas.

"What do you want to do now?" Lucas asked, leaning against the wall now.

"Well, I'm bored, so let's go explore this place," Barry answered.

"Better than nothing," Dawn said as she got up, brushing herself off.

As soon as Dawn was standing, Barry ran over to a statue and put his hand on it.

A moan pervaded the entire house. Lucas looked back out the window and saw that the grunts hadn't even heard it.

"L-L-Lucas," Barry stammered.

_He's scared; he never stammers._

"Yeah?" Lucas replied. He then pulled out Hoothoot's pokeball.

"This statue looks like its staring at me."

"Just ignore it; your mind is playing tricks on you again."

Dawn remained silent. She appeared to be deep in thought, and Lucas didn't want to disturb her. Then she walked over to where Barry was and looked at the statue.

"Lucas, you might want to look at this."

"What is it?"

"This is something that you might just want to look at."

Lucas walked over. What he saw sent a chill down his spine. Barry wasn't lying; the statue did appear to stare at him.

_Creepy…_

Lucas started to whistle the theme for the Twilight Zone.

"Come on," Lucas said. "Let's go." Lucas then decided to check out what was on the other side of the door next to the statue.

The other two heard a scream come out of the room. Lucas then backed out of the room.

"Jesus you look pale," Dawn said.

"Never would have expected you to say that," Lucas replied.

"What did you see bro?" Barry asked.

Lucas just remained silent.

Dawn and Barry started whispering to each other.

When they were finished, Dawn turned to Lucas.

"What did you see?"

After another couple of minutes of silence Lucas finally spoke up.

"I don't know what I saw," he said.

"Then what do you think you saw?" Barry asked.

"It wasn't human, yet it looked like one," Lucas mumbled.

"Well, from what I know about this place, it's haunted by the ghost of a butler and a little girl. And supposedly, the girl haunts the upstairs."

"So Lucas probably saw the butler," Barry said.

"Yeah," Lucas started talking again.

The entire group decided to go into the room that Lucas had just been in. It was the kitchen and dining room. When the group entered the room, a swarm of Zubat flew out of the room.

"It's dark in here. Monferno, brighten this place up," Lucas said as he let Monferno out.

When the pokemon appeared in a flash of light, it let its tail up just a little brighter than normal.

"And Lucas said let there be light," Barry joked.

"Thank you Monferno," Dawn said. Then she kneeled down and hugged the pokemon. The pokemon's face turned a slight shade of purple due to the pokemon having a blue face.

_Lucky bastard._

Barry went to the other side of the room into the kitchen, while Lucas and Dawn explored the dining room.

"Do you realize where Barry is?" Dawn asked Lucas, who was looking at a picture in the wall.

"No, why?" Lucas replied, as he turned to face her.

"He's in the kitchen."

Lucas chuckled.

"Count on Barry to go to the kitchen in an abandoned house."

Dawn laughed a little at Lucas' remark.

Barry walked up to the two.

"Look what I found."

"An antidote; that will be helpful getting out of this forest," Dawn said after studying the container for a couple of seconds.

"Anyway… The entire time I was in the kitchen, I thought I was being watched," Barry said.

"Do you think there are Haunter here?" Lucas asked Dawn.

"I highly doubt it."

Lucas went back to the foyer of the mansion and looked out the window.

"The grunts are still out there," Lucas said as he rejoined the other two.

"Then we keep exploring the house," Barry said excitedly.

"Do we really have any other choice?" Dawn asked the two friends.

So the group went to the second floor. After walking up a staircase and past two rooms (which were empty yet felt oppressing), the group ended up in a long hallway.

"I can't see the end this way," Lucas said as he looked to the right down the hallway.

"Neither can I," Dawn said as she looked the opposite way.

"I can see something right in front of us," Barry said.

After Barry made that remark, the other two looked up.

Looking back at them was a floating head, along with two dismembered hands.

"So there are Haunter in here," Lucas said to Dawn.

"Oh….shut up," she replied.

The door behind the group slammed shut.

Barry walked up to the pokemon.

"You want to battle?" he said to the pokemon.

The pokemon nodded.

"On one condition; if I win, you're coming with me."

Lucas leaned over to Dawn and said, "Looks like Barry will have the strongest pokemon."

Monferno shot Lucas a look. Lucas noticed and said, "I said strongest, not best."

The monkey pokemon jumped up on Dawn's shoulder and stuck its tongue out at Lucas. Dawn giggled when it jumped on her shoulder.

He ignored the pokemon's childish behavior.

Barry meanwhile, had started to battle the Haunter.

"Dawn, this should be interesting."

"How so?"

"Barry doesn't have any pokemon that have an advantage against Haunter."

"Well, then we'll have an interesting show won't we?" Dawn replied.

"Grotle, you're up," Barry said as he let out a pokemon that was like a Turtwig, yet larger, heavier, and its shell had covered the top of its head, and had two bushes on its back.

"When did his Turtwig evolve Dawn?" Lucas asked her.

"When Barry and I were covering your ass while you took on Commander Mars," Dawn replied.

"Anything else that I don't know about you and Barry's pokemon?"

"Barry's Shinx evolved into a Luxio, and my Piplup evolved into a Prinplup," Dawn answered his question.

"So I guess we're all on even ground,"

Barry's Grotle had to use razor leaf; none of its other attacks could affect Haunter.

Needless to say, the battle wasn't very interesting; it degenerated into a simple race to see who would give up first. Luckily, the Haunter ended up tired before the Grotle.

After Haunter accepted the pokeball, Barry was rather confident.

"That was an easy battle," he said as he tossed Haunter's pokeball in the air.

"Yet it was so difficult to watch," Dawn moaned.

"Let's just see if the morons sitting outside are gone," Lucas said as he went to check the window.

Lucas walked up to the window and looked out. He didn't see anyone.

_I doubt that they've just left; they're probably waiting in the bushes…_

"Hey Barry!" Lucas shouted.

"Yeah?!"

"You and Dawn get down here!"

Dawn and Barry quickly ran down the steps. Actually, Barry slid on the grip of the stairway.

"Alright we're here," Barry said.

"Can you tell your Haunter to check outside for anyone from Team Galactic?" Lucas asked his friend.

"Sure."

Barry let Haunter out of his pokeball.

"Haunter, can you head outside and see if there are any people outside who dress like astronauts?" Lucas said when the ghost pokemon was out.

The pokemon nodded. Then it drifted through the wall next to Lucas. The group watched it cross the lawn and then disappear out of sight.

"Kinda creepy to see that…" Dawn trailed off.

"I know what you mean," Barry answered.

After a few minutes, the Haunter came back and drifted through the wall again.

"So, did you see any goobers out there?" Lucas asked the Haunter.

The pokemon shook its floating head left to right.

"Did you see anyone at all?" Barry asked.

The pokemon shook its head again.

"Let's go; this place is giving me the creeps," Dawn said.

"I agree with you; let's get out of this place," Barry said.

Lucas sighed and said, "Well, you got me outnumbered; let's leave this place."

The group departed the Old Chateau after Lucas returned Monferno, who was still on Dawn's shoulder.

Barry looked at his poketch.

"Damn! It's already five!" he said when he looked at it.

Barry returned Haunter and told the pokeball that he shouldn't have anymore tasks like that.

"Is everyone ready to go now?" Lucas asked.

The other nodded.

The group saw no one along the rest of the way to Eterna City.

As the group entered the pokemon center, Dawn looked a little dismayed.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"I wanted to do some sightseeing." Dawn answered.

"We'll do some tomorrow. I wanted to get a look at that building that we passed near the edge of town."

"Fine."

Dinner was uneventful and passed in silence; Lucas was attempting to plan out a strategy depending on what pokemon the leader of the Eterna City Gym would use.

Finally, he spoke up.

"Dawn, do you know what type of pokemon the gym in this town uses?"

"Gardenia? She uses grass pokemon," Dawn replied. "Which is why I've been silent; I'm trying to figure out a strategy with a water and electric type."

"Didn't your Shinx evolve?" Lucas asked.

"Forgot about that. Yes, Shinx did evolve, so I guess Barry and I are on even footing at the time."

"And doesn't your Prinplup know some ice-type attacks?"

Dawn sighed, and said, "Sadly, I don't think so."

"What about flying-type attacks? Isn't peck one?"

It seemed like someone had breathed new life into Dawn; she immediately lit up and thanked Lucas for his help.

Barry wasn't having any problems with his strategy. Especially since he had overheard the conversation between Lucas and Dawn.

After talking with Lucas, Dawn had decided that she would need plenty of sleep fore tomorrow, so she went on up to the group's room at the pokemon center and went to bed.

Lucas and Barry stayed up a little later.

"So, you ready for tomorrow's battle?" Barry asked his friend.

"That's all you ever talk about," Lucas replied.

"And all you ever do is try and get a glimpse of Dawn," Barry said.

"No I don't!" Lucas said.

"I might be an idiot at times Lucas, but I do know enough to make it in this world."

By this time, Lucas was starting to blush.

"Hell you're even blushing!"

"That's because you're yelling that I like a girl in public."

"Yet there is no one else in around; even the Nurse Joy had to head to the bathroom."

_Oh shit…_

Dawn then walked into the room wearing her pajamas.

"What are you two yelling about?" she asked in a yawn.

"You wouldn't understand," Barry dismissed her. That was a mistake.

"What do you mean I wouldn't understand!? Hell, I'm smarter than you Barry!"

_Here we go again._

"It's a guy thing alright?" Barry answered, clearly regretting that he had tried to dismiss her.

"Then let me listen," Dawn said.

"We were just recollecting about last year in school." Lucas finally joined the argument.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone start screaming about graduate school like that," Dawn joked.

"Good point. Well, we were also arguing over who is better: Navy or Army." Barry quickly said before Lucas could reply.

"Isn't that obvious?" Dawn said.

"Yeah; Notre Dame is a bunch of cheaters," Barry said.

Dawn dragged her hand down her face.

"Barry, she meant whether or not Navy was better than Army."

"At what?"

"Football, you numbskull," Lucas said.

"Lucas you know I haven't been able to keep track of them what with my family having to move often."

"Neither have I, but you have relatives who at least live in the United States."

"Hold on for just a second," Dawn stepped in. "Do you two have to move often or something?"

Lucas responded first.

"My father was a PMC."

Before Dawn could say anything, Barry spoke.

"Private Military Contracter," he said.

"Your father was a mercenary?" Dawn asked in astonishment. Lucas nodded.

"And my dad used to be the champion in the American League," Barry added on.

"Okay…" Dawn said just to show the two boys that she was keeping up with what they were saying. "Then how come your family was able to settle down in Sinnoh?" she then asked Lucas.

"After the Manchu-Russian War, my dad wanted out of the business. He said that the atrocities he saw ruined him."

"How did your family end up in the Sinnoh Region though?" Dawn was thoroughly interested.

"I'll tell you more later; I'm going to bed," Lucas said.

"Yeah, me too. Hey Dawn, I know that I said my family was from the Kanto Region, I'll tell you the whole story tomorrow." Barry then got up and followed Lucas to get some sleep.

"What a couple of interesting boys…" Dawn said to herself.

A/N: At the beginning, until about the last three pages, I didn't like this chapter much. Then I realized that in a discussion between the character could reveal a lot about the back-story. And I'd say that Barry and his Haunter will have some interesting interactions throughout the story. So… in the end, I say that this might be one of my favorite chapters. And don't forget, I'll be taking Monday thru Wednesday off to get ready to head back home to Georgia to get ready for the football season. I might post a chapter before Tuesday, but don't count on it. And after Wednesday, the updates should be a little less often, but I should be able to get them out.

But don't worry about it that much… R&R!


	11. A Helping Hand

A/N: Back in Georgia, where I know nearly everyone. Got home about nine o'clock and woke up at two in the afternoon due to the jetlag. Then I had to spend a half-hour figuring out Vista. Its good to be back home!

A Helping Hand

Lucas woke up first the following morning. He walked over to the window and looked out at the rising sun.

_Second gym badge today. Hope Dawn doesn't have to much trouble with it…_

After another few minutes of looking towards the sun, Lucas got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. There he recalled his and Barry's "conversation".

_He isn't wrong about my feelings for her… Damn! I can never lie to him, Barry knows me too well…_

Barry and Dawn the walked downstairs and joined Lucas at the table.

"Didn't sleep well last night?" Barry asked Lucas. Lucas was drinking coffee.

Lucas nodded. "Had that dream again last night," he said as he took a sip of coffee.

"Bummer," was all Barry said before going off to pillage the breakfast buffet.

Lucas noticed that Dawn hadn't said anything the entire time.

"What about you; you look like you also stayed up all night."

"I did. Well, a good portion of it. I couldn't figure out a good strategy for taking on Gardenia."

"Can I see Prinplup?" Lucas asked.

"Why?"

"I think I can help. Trust me on this one," he added on.

Dawn let Prinplup out of its poke ball. Lucas then got out his pokedex

After looking at the pokedex for a few seconds, Lucas looked dismayed. "That's what I thought," he said.

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"I was hoping that Prinplup was something other than just a water-type. Perhaps a flying type as well," Lucas said as he put up his pokedex and Dawn returned her Piplup.

"But its not." It was not a question.

"Right. Perhaps you could use my Monferno, I need to raise Hoothoot some."

"Thanks, but no thanks. It would be nice to use a pokemon that had a type advantage against grass, but to me it would feel like cheating since I didn't raise it."

"Honesty; a good trait," Lucas said. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," he added on as he got up.

The group ate a hearty breakfast (especially Barry), got their pokemon that had been patched up over night.

"The only challenge for this gym should be finding it," Barry said.

"You're in a good mood," Dawn said.

"I know what I'm doing for this gym," Barry replied.

"Lucky you."

As the group went in their journey to find the Eterna City Gym, a group of Team Galactic grunts ran by. A woman dressed in black with flowing blonde hair followed the group with an expression of frustration on her face.

Barry leaned over to Lucas and said, "Damn."

"Don't get distracted; last thing we need is a hyperactive boy who can' keep his mind on the battle before him," Lucas said his friend.

"A pendulum swings two ways," Barry replied.

"What are you two talking about?" Dawn asked.

"It appears that we both now hold something over each other's heads," Lucas whispered to Barry.

"Let's forget about it for the time being."

"Reasonable enough."

While Lucas and Barry were having this conversation, Dawn had found the gym. When the two friends were done talking to beach other, she told them where the gym was located.

"So who goes first? Or wants to?" Lucas added on.

Barry raised his hand.

"I guess Barry is," Dawn said.

The group proceeded into the gym after Barry read the sign.

"Who's Paul?" Barry asked after reading the sign.

The other two shrugged.

"I hope I get to battle this Paul guy, and wipe the floor with him," Barry said.

"Calm down, I'm sure we'll meet him, but first, we need to take on Gardenia," Lucas said. Then he turned to Dawn and quietly asked, "You know what you're going to do?"

Dawn replied just as quietly. "Yes."

Lucas smiled his reply; words needn't be said.

Barry led the group into the gym.

He saw a girl up ahead near the back of the gym. She had orange hair and brown eyes. She wore a green cloak-like object with black sleeves that left her mid drift exposed and wore beige shorts and she donned green boots. Barry got to her before Dawn of Lucas did.

"I assume that you are Gardenia," Lucas said after he got to the girl.

The girl nodded. "I assume that you three wan to challenge the Eterna City Gym."

All three of the trainers nodded.

"Then let's get to it!" Gardenia said confidently.

Gardenia and Barry took their respective positions on the field. The referee took his place at the halfway side of the field.

"The battle is between Gardenia of the Eterna City Gym and Barry Karolinger from Twinleaf Town," the referee announced. "The battle will be between three pokemon on each side's team."

Lucas and Dawn meanwhile, had found a couple of seats from which to watch the battle.

"I wonder how Barry will battle this time," Dawn said to Lucas.

"Probably the same as he does every time we've seen him - he'll use attacks that inflict damage quickly. What I mean is, that like himself, Barry attacks quickly and doesn't think ahead of the next move."

Barry had decided to use his Starly for the first battle.

Gardenia meanwhile, had sent out a pokemon that resembled a pair of cherries.

"Take the offensive," Gardenia then said to Barry.

"Alright, Starly let's start with Double Team!"

"Watch the ground Cherubi."

As Starly made the copies of itself, Cherubi was watching the ground near the bird pokemon's feet and when the bird stopped was the cue.

"Cherubi, Leech Seed!" Gardenia shouted.

The pokemon then spat a good number of seeds at the actual Starly. Starly, believing that its copies offered protection through deception, didn't attempt to move, until it was too late. The seeds latched right onto the bird's chest and formed vines around the pokemon.

"He's going to have a hell of a time now," Lucas said more to himself than anybody.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Leech Seed will constantly drain his pokemon and heal Gardenia's."

"Looks like he'll have to hurry this battle."

"And that's where he'll slip up; he'll act on impulse now, or at least until he sends out another pokemon," Lucas said as he turned to face Dawn. A smirk was apparent on his face.

"Let's just see how this battle shapes up," Dawn said, watching the battle again.

"Its not like we can jump in anyway," Lucas said, almost as if finishing her sentence.

Starly was already starting to show the effects of the seeds. It wasn't able to fly as high, and it appeared exhausted. Cherubi was looking like it was on top of the world.

Barry was also beginning to look frustrated at the turn the battle had taken.

"Wing Attack!" he shouted.

"Dodge it."

Starly's wings began to glow white and it began to fly over to Cherubi.

However, the cherry pokemon was able to dodge the attack.

_Barry's going to have to think up of something quickly if he wants to get back on top of things. _

Dawn then shouted something out, but Lucas was too busy to notice what exactly she had said.

"…Good idea Dawn! Starly start spinning!" Barry shouted.

"I assume you told him to shake off the vines by spinning," Lucas said to Dawn.

The bird began spinning rapidly. As the vines fell off, the bird pokemon began to scoop them up in its beak.

"You know what to do now!" Barry shouted.

Starly began rapidly flying its wings glowing white again. Then when it lined up with Cherubi, it began spitting out the seeds like a machine gun. Then it slammed into the cherry pokemon. The pokemon flew backwards and collapsed.

Lucas shuttered. Dawn noticed this and walked closer to him. She embraced him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lucas looked at her and replied, "I told you my father was a PMC. During the war, he and his friend were hired by the Russians to flank a Chinese position. During the attack a single plane avoided several Sam's -Surface to Air Missiles - and strafed his position. In the run, his best friend was cut in half by the bullets. Seeing that reminded me of it."

Dawn then noticed that a single tear was flowing down Lucas' cheek.

"I'm so sorry to hear that…"

Lucas smiled, and said, "I'm just glad that I've got friends like you and Barry. Now let's just watch the battle."

"Good strategy; you used my attacks against me," Gardenia said as she returned Cherubi. "Let's see what happens now though…"

Gardenia then threw another pokeball, and this time a Turtwig appeared after the flash of light.

Lucas immediately leaned forward in his seat.

_This should get interesting. I wonder if Barry will keep Starly out…_

"Starly, get some rest! Grotle, you're up!"

_Nope, guess he won't keep Starly out…_

"Are you the only two here?" a voice asked.

Lucas spun around to see who asked the question. It was the blonde woman they had seen before.

"No," Lucas politely replied.

"May I sit here then?" the woman asked.

Dawn had noticed as well and replied, "Sure," before Lucas could respond.

"Thank you."

"Just curious, but who are you?" Lucas asked.

"My name is Cynthia," the woman answered.

"By the way, I'm Lucas and that's Dawn, and Barry is the one battling."

"Who's up next?" Cynthia asked.

Dawn answered, "I'd prefer that I go last, but if Lucas wants to, then its fine with me."

Grotle and Turtwig had engaged in battle. From the start, both pokemon made it clear that it was a fight until one of them hit the ground and the trainer recalled it. The two pokemon tried to show each other that they couldn't lose.

Then the battle really began; both trainers ordered their pokemon to tackle. The two pokemon charged each other with the fervor of knights. Both pokemon were quicker than what one would have expected, yet Gardenia's Turtwig was incredibly quick. The two turtles smashed their head into each other. They backed up and waited for their orders.

"Razor Leaf!" both trainers shouted.

Turtwig quickly dislodged several leaves as Grotle shook the bushes on its back, also shooting out several leaves. While they might have looked harmless, the leaves, when they made contact with each other, shattered like glass. The three people in the audience, had to take cover. However, Lucas wasn't able to get low enough. When he got up, he felt his beret.

"Damn!"

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"The shrapnel tore my beret. Damn, this was my favorite one."

"Why is it your favorite?"

"Dad gave it to me."

"How about I fix it up for you," Dawn suggested.

"That would be nice. Thank you."

"Barry! You killed my hat!"

"Sorry!" Barry shouted back. "But it was an acceptable loss."

Lucas sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how I put up with him…" Then he pulled out another beret of the exact type. "Always keep a spare," he told Dawn.

"I don't blame you; he can get annoying, but he can also be funny. And how many of those do you have?"

"I think I brought three with me."

Cynthia meanwhile was watching the battle calmly, observing how Barry fought, his pokemon, and his mentality.

"Does he always act brashly?" Cynthia asked the two trainers.

"Yep," Lucas answered.

Both of the turtle pokemon were starting to show signs of exhaustion. Grotle more so than Turtwig.

Both trainers ordered their pokemon to tackle again.

When they neared each other, Gardenia yelled, "Grass Knot!"

_Guess I'll have to watch out for that…_

Grotle couldn't stop itself in time; it tripped over the grass hedge created a moment before. The pokemon slammed into the ground and skidded in front of the Turtwig and came to a stop.

"Razor Leaf," was Gardenia said.

The outcome need not be said.

"Haunter, you're up."

Lucas noticed that Gardenia shuttered.

"She's still afraid of ghosts," Cynthia said.

"How do you know?" Dawn asked.

"She shuddered when she saw Haunter. Besides, she was like that when I first came through this gym, you should have seen the look on her face when I sent out Gengar."

"Do you think Barry will make win?" Dawn asked.

Cynthia smiled and said, "Fear is the mind killer."

Lucas chuckled.

Haunter looked like it was going to enjoy the battle; it was laughing and smiling.

Turtwig however, looked exhausted and desperate.

"Night Shade," Lucas said.

Haunter quickly enlarged and started to move towards the frightened Turtwig. Then the ghost pokemon opened its mouth and scooped up his opponent in it, or at least appeared to; the whole thing was an illusion.

But the illusion did what it was supposed to; Turtwig grew white and fell over.

"Wow, I didn't think that Haunter was really that strong, that's going to be fun to fight," Lucas said, almost as a joke. He really knew that Barry, like his father before him, Barry was a great battler.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't come down to this," Gardenia said as she drew out a third pokeball. "Roserade, let's go," she said as she threw the pokeball. When it opened, a bipedal pokemon that had a bouquet of roses for the endings of its arms appeared. The rose on the right was red, the other blue. It had a growth on its head that looked like white hair and it appeared to have lenses over the eyes.

"She must have evolved her Roselia after I battled her," Cynthia said.

Haunter looked back at Barry and then looked towards its opponent.

"I get you on that one Haunter, but don't worry this shouldn't be too difficult," Barry said to his pokemon. The expression on Haunter's face seemed to show sarcasm, but quickly reverted to its sinister look.

_Wonder what that was about._

"Haunter, start off with Lick," Barry said.

"Razor Leaf."

Haunter drifted towards Roserade and let its tongue out. Roserade meanwhile had thrown several leaves at the ghost pokemon. The leaves struck the pokemon right where Gardenia had wanted; the tongue. Haunter reeled back, its eyes narrowed slightly, and it grinned evilly.

"I believe Haunter is going to enjoy this," Cynthia said.

"Shadow Punch," Barry said. He had the look of someone who was determined to win, at nearly any cost.

Gardenia didn't say anything, but she had a look of fear on her face.

Then a fist seemed to manifest itself near the rose pokemon.

The expression on Gardenia's face quickly changed to a smirk. "Protect."

Just when the punch seemed ready to land, Roserade, sent up a barrier that protected the pokemon from harm.

"Now use Grass Whistle," Gardenia ordered her pokemon.

Barry was unable to think of something to counter the trick. Roserade began whistling a soft and quiet tune. Haunter started nod off, closed its eyes and then its hands went limp. However, the floating head remained in the air.

"What should he do now?" Dawn asked Lucas.

"Not much he can do is there?" Lucas answered her with a question.

"Good point."

"Solarbeam," Gardenia ordered Roserade.

The bouquet pokemon began charging up for the beam attack. A ball of energy gathered at the pokemon's mouth.

"Haunter wake up!" Barry shouted towards his pokemon. The pokemon didn't react, though a faint smile was present on the pokemon's face.

Roserade was done charging for the attack. It unleashed the ball of energy in a brilliant beam that made its way to Haunter.

"Its over," Gardenia said in triumph.

Haunter quickly sprang back to life and started forming a ball in its hands. The ball was dark and seemed to lack a definite from. Just when it seemed that the solar beam was going to hit, Haunter threw the ball into the beam. Light counteracted darkness and an explosion of both light and shadow ensued.

When the dust settled, both pokemon were still standing, though they had been knocked back a good distance from the explosion.

Haunter was laughing. Roserade was awestruck.

Barry simply looked dumbstruck.

_Can't say I saw that one coming._

Dawn meanwhile also looked like she had just seen something she hadn't. She shook her head and looked at each pokemon. "Damn," was all she said.

"I know," Lucas said.

Cynthia smirked and said, "Can't say I've seen that happen before. Even I never came across a pokemon play a trick like that. It will be interesting when he evolves Haunter into a Gengar."

"Cynthia, did Haunter just use Shadow Ball, or was it just an illusion?" Lucas asked.

"It was Shadow Ball," she answered.

_That means Barry has a stronger Haunter than I originally fought. Glad I don't have to battle him._

"Shadow Punch! End this quickly!" Barry shouted.

"Protect!"

Haunter quickly hovered over to Roserade to deliver the punch, but the pokemon had already thrown up the protective barrier.

That didn't stop Haunter, he had learned from the first time this had been pulled. The ghost pokemon floated through and landed a punch on the bouquet pokemon's right left kidney. Roserade reacted with a look of insultation and righteous fervor and fury for this underhanded attack.

"Cynthia you said that fear is the mind killer. What is anger?" Lucas said.

"Fear is the mind killer; anger, clouds the mind," she answered.

"What do you mean by that?" Dawn asked.

"Have you ever made a smart decision when you were angry?" Cynthia answered.

Dawn shook her head.

"Jesus!" Lucas said yelled.

He couldn't have said anything more appropriate.

Both pokemon had just decided to go all out. Gardenia made sure of that; she had her Roserade use Sunny day. Then she had Roserade use Solarbeam. Barry had countered with Shadow Ball. The two attacks had collided halfway between the two pokemon.

Then they began to exchange blows.

Haunter landed the first blow; Sucker Punch, which gave Haunter a quick laugh. Roserade however, had the real laugh. While Haunter was laughing at this, Roserade had quickly charged up a Solar beam, which hit right on target. Haunter was knocked back. It looked like he would just float back up, but it merely looked up, chuckled and fainted.

"At the very least; you gave me a good fight. Starly, finish the fight," Barry said as he returned Haunter and brought out Starly.

The bird chirped its name and then waited for Barry to tell it what to do.

"Roserade, let's finish it! Solarbeam!"

Fortunately, Sunny Day had ran out, causing Roserade to have to gather energy.

"Starly! Use Wing Attack!"

Lucas began whistling a dramatic tune. The battle had just descended into a race for Starly. If Roserade finished charging for the attack, the bird pokemon wouldn't stand a chance. If Starly was able to strike the bouquet pokemon in time, Barry would be able to finish the battle right then and there.

Starly was flapping its wings as if there was no tomorrow. Roserade continued concentrating, trying to gather the energy necessary for Solarbeam.

The ball of energy had formed.

Starly's wings were glowing.

The ball began to turn into an oval.

Starly was still several meters away.

The oval had begun to turn into a rod.

Starly was only a few feet away.

The bird slammed its wings into Roserade as Solarbeam launched from the bouquet pokemon hit the bird.

The result: Roserade was laying in front of Gardenia and a bird pokemon was lying in front of Barry.

The pokemon looked like a Starly, yet it was taller and looked somewhat more intimidating and was also thinner.

"So he's got a Staravia now," Cynthia said.

"You gave me a good battle," Gardenia said. "And for that, I give you this," she said as she handed him the Forest Badge. "Take this also," she said as she handed him a TM. "That TM contains Grass Knot, the move that I used on your Grotle."

"Uh… thanks."

"So do you want to go first or me?" Dawn asked.

"How about I go first; It will give you some more time to think about what you are going to do," Lucas said.

Barry joined the group. "Aren't you Cynthia?" Barry asked the blonde girl.

"Correct," Cynthia answered. "And no, I'm not what you think I am," she quietly added so only Barry could hear.

"Lucas, why don't you go take on Gardenia; you'll have an easy time," Barry said. "What with your Monferno, you should be able to roll right over Gardenia."

"As easily as the Germans over the French?"

"Exactly."

Barry's words turned out to be prophetic; Lucas and his Monferno mopped the floor with Gardenia's pokemon. That wasn't because her pokemon were tired, since she had given the pokemon Full Restores before the battle, but rather, that Monferno had the type advantage.

Dawn's turn came.

"This battle is between Dawn Berlitz from Sandgem Town and Gardenia of Eterna City Gym," the referee stated. "The battle will be, by agreement between the two parties, a battle between two pokemon on each side. Pokemon may only be switched out after they and/or their opponent are defeated."

"Special rules, I wonder who's idea that was?" Barry joked.

"Based solely off of the way Dawn has been panicking for the last hour, I'd say it was her idea. But I could be wrong," Lucas said to his friend.

"Luxio, let's start the attack!" Dawn said as she threw a pokeball. When the red and white sphere opened, a pokemon that looked like a Shinx, but more mature emerged in a flash of light. The pokemon had a mane that didn't yet completely cover the head, but was indeed noticeable.

Gardenia had decided to use her Turtwig.

"Just curious, but is Dawn's Luxio powerful, or incredibly fast?" Lucas asked.

"Why don't you just watch and find out," Barry replied.

"I hate you so much," Lucas replied with a light-hearted tone.

"I love you too."

"Alright, enough with the wordplay."

"What, so you can listen to Foreplay?"

"No, because the battle has started. And besides, its Foreplay/Long Time, anyway."

The battle had started off slow.

"Luxio, use Charge!" Dawn shouted.

"Use Growth, Turtwig," Gardenia.

Both pokemon began to concentrate and gather energy. Luxio had sparks flying all around it. Turtwig seemed to just look more vibrant and full of energy. When the two pokemon were done, they both started to try and frighten the other. Luxio had a slight advantage over Turtwig at intimidation.

Then they waited.

"Spark!" Dawn shouted.

"Razor Leaf," Gardenia said calmly.

"What does Charge do anyway?" Lucas asked his friend.

"Assuming that my dad was correct, it should make electric attacks twice as powerful," Barry responded.

"He's correct," Cynthia said.

Luxio started running at Turtwig, the air around the pokemon seemed to cackle in laughter.

Turtwig 'threw' several leaves at the charging pokemon, but to no avail; the leaves shattered to the sheer amount of energy flowing around the pokemon.

Then Luxio slammed into the turtle pokemon. Turtwig flew across the field and skidded to a stop at Gardenia's feet.

_I guess Dawn won't have trouble after all…_

"Time to come back from whatever fantasy you were having about-"

"Finish that sentence Barry and I'll…"

"You'll do what?"

Lucas remained silent.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Barry said.

Lucas had a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Dawn had defeated Turtwig. Gardenia sent out her Roserade to try and keep from losing three matches in a single day.

Luxio was panting heavily at this point; it wasn't built for speed, but rather power. And today, the lion pokemon had demonstrated ability in both.

"She's having an easier time than you did," Lucas said to Barry.

"Eh, it was beginner's luck,"

_Sure it was Barry, sure it was…_

"Luxio, use Charge again," Dawn said. She was a lot more confident now that she had one of Gardenia's pokemon out for the fight.

"Sunny Day!" Gardenia shouted. She however sounded like someone who had lost hope of victory, yet still fought on. "Then follow it up with Solarbeam!"

The arena seemed to get brighter and more pleasant, yet at the same time on Dawn's side, more chaotic.

After what seemed like an eternity, Luxio was done gathering energy. However, Sunny Day was in full effect, which meant that Roserade would be able to launch Solarbeam right away.

Dawn suddenly looked mortified. Preparing to attack had weakened her position.

"Ooh, she's got a problem now," Barry said.

"Not really," Cynthia said. "She's still got two pokemon, while Gardenia only has one.

"Her other pokemon is Prinplup," Lucas said.

"Oh. Well, she's screwed." Cynthia said.

_You can do this Dawn. Just don't lose confidence._

"Do it," Gardenia said to Roserade. The pokemon nodded and used Solarbeam.

"You know what to do," Dawn said to her Luxio. The pokemon growled fiercely and began running towards Roserade.

Roserade launched the beam at the charging pokemon. Luxio however, dodged to the left and the beam missed, if only by a few inches. Roserade simply adjusted its body and turned to shoot the beam at the quickly tiring pokemon.

This time the beam hit Luxio on the back left let. The pokemon let out a howl of pain and slowed down tremendously.

The third time the beam hit right where Gardenia was hoping; right behind Luxio. She did this, to send the pokemon flying over to Roserade, who would land the finishing blow for the fight.

Dawn was smiling to herself.

_I wonder what she is thinking; her pokemon is about to become something to carry back to the pokemon center._

"Luxio is going to get owned like that guy on the video we saw," Barry said.

"Hmm? Sorry, I was thinking again."

"What was that video we saw about the guy who kept screaming when he killed someone? All I recall is that it was on YouTube."

"Oh, you mean FPS Doug. Ah, those were good times. But what does that have to do with what's going on right now?!"

Cynthia spoke up. "I think he means that, Luxio is about to get the tar beaten out of it."

Roserade was about to use Solarbeam, mixed with Razor Leaf, for a flashy ending for Luxio.

"Bite!" Dawn shouted across the field. Luxio jumped up and bit Roserade on the head. This would be the last thing for either pokemon, as Luxio fainted after biting the pokemon, and Roserade was knocked out by all the stored up electricity that Luxio had charged up before the attack. For you see, Roserade merely completed a circuit and all the stored up electricity in Luxio used Roserade's body as a means to get to the ground.

"Damn," was all Barry could say.

Gardenia had an expression of shock (no pun intended) on her face. Cynthia merely shrugged and stood up.

After Gardenia handed Dawn the Forest Badge, Barry and Lucas went over to congragulate Dawn on a slightly unexpected ending to the battle. The two boys decided to pick her up and throw her in the air and then repeat.

Cynthia was talking to Gardenia. There conversation was unheard.

When both groups were done talking they converged near the door.

"Your next gym battle will be against Fantina in Hearthome City. To get there, I would advise getting some bicycles from Rad Rickshaw. His shop is only a few blocks away. After that, you'll want to go down Cycling Road to the south. At the end of it, start heading east. There is a tunnel through Mt. Coronet that leads to Hearthome City, which is just on the other side of the mountain." Gardenia told the three trainers.

After they walked outside, Cynthia joined the three trainers. "Here, you might want this as well," she told them as she handed Dawn a disc. "That's the HM Cut. You're going to need it later on."

"Thanks," Dawn replied kindly.

"And by the way, could you three help me with something?"

A/N: Sorry I took so long on this chapter; half of you probably have left me to die now. But that's not the point, let me explain the rest of my plight. After I started this chapter, our Xbox 360 broke (we exchanged it at Best Buy), so my brother decided he would watch… I'm not even going to talk about what he watched, but it was pretty…disgusting. Then after that, he decided he would play Empire at War on my computer (good game for any interested), and he did that for several days. And last but not least, I've been bogged down with reading assignments and football practice.

And thanks for the encouragement Brenediction. Though when I played last season, the only injury I got was a dislocated shoulder, but I popped it back into place right away.

And as for the story, its not long until I drop the bomb about Lucas' father. I wonder how you guys (and girls?) will react when you read the line about him.


	12. More Than Meets the Eye

A/N: Yes, that was a battle filled chapter. This one won't have as many though. Oh, and just so people know, Tuesday was my birthday. And since someone's going to read this decades later, it was July 29. Now, this is where things really start to get interesting. In my opinion, the gym battles are just what I call "fairplay" battles. And I think that what happened during Dawn and Barry's battles was the exact opposite of what they had expected; Barry had to claw his way through the battle, while Dawn had a fairly easy time. And here's where things really begin deviate from the storyline of the games while still using the games as the base for the plot. Another note about changes: pokemon will know more than four moves; it allows for a little more uncertainty about how battles will go. And I won't stick to just moves that they had in the games, a good example would be Jupiter's Skuntank (check it on bulbapedia); it only has one offensive attack.

More Than Meets The Eye

"So what do you mean by help?" Lucas said.

"I've been keeping up on Team Galactic since the bombing in Jubilife City. I saw what happened and since, I've been trailing the team that has stayed on the routes between Eterna City Jubilife City. And that includes Floaroma Town, where in a sense, you three stopped Team Galactic and even saved a man's life. Not only that, you hindered Team Galactic in whatever they were doing," Cynthia said. "And take these," she added on as she handed them several items that looked like potions. "Hyper potions," she said.

Lucas thought it over for a minute. After he made up his mind he looked towards Barry. Barry nodded. Then he looked over at Dawn. She made the same gesture that Barry did.

"We'll help you. Now, where are we headed?" he said.

"Did you see the building with the spikes on the outskirts of town?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes. Why?" Lucas said.

"That, my friend is…" Cynthia trailed off. "…Team Galactic's Eterna Branch Headquarters."

"So what are we going to do, storm in, and save some people?" Barry asked quickly.

Cynthia nodded.

"Sweet! We're going to really get back at those assholes now!" Barry shouted confidently.

"Aw… What the hell, I'm with you maniacs, but this should be good," Dawn said confidently.

"You know you love us," Barry said jokingly.

"No comment," Dawn said. When she looked over at Lucas though, she did blush. Lucas however, had been facing towards the building Team Galactic was using. Barry however, did notice what Dawn did.

"Nah, I must be fooling myself…" Barry said to himself. "She didn't do what I think she just did, did she? Nah…"

_Man I really need to get those Boston songs out of my head. Not that it's a bad thing though…_

The group was able to reach the headquarters in about ten minutes.

"Jeez, I didn't know there would be this many alleyways in this city." Lucas said when they were in front of the building.

"A few of my relatives lived in this city; we visited them often. Hence, I learned the city like the back of my hand," Cynthia said.

"So what do we do now?" Barry asked. His question was well founded; there were plenty of trees obstructing the team's entry to the grounds and ultimately, the building.

"I'll handle this," Cynthia said. She then drew a pokeball. "Garchomp, cut down these trees."

When the pokeball opened, a dragon-like pokemon with shark-like attributes appeared. The pokemon had a yellow cross on its head, which was blue like the upper part of its body. The torso was red with the area surrounding the groin was yellow. Its arms resembled wings and ended with a claw on each wing. Two spikes also protruded from the half-way on each limb. And it boasted a large dorsal fin with a triangular chip about halfway down along with two appendages on its head resembling small turbine engines.

"It's a male isn't it," Dawn said.

Cynthia nodded.

"How did you know, look at its-" Barry was cut off by Lucas who quickly covered Barry's mouth. "I assume you guessed."

"Actually, Prof. Rowan taught me about how pokemon are often very different. For instance, male Garchomp have a chip in their dorsal fins. Females do not however…" Dawn explained.

"Alright cut the chit chat," Cynthia said. Garchomp meanwhile, had cut down enough of the trees with its bladed arms for the group to enter the grounds.

Cynthia returned Garchomp. "Lucario, come on out." A pokemon resembling a jackal and the Egyptian god Anubis appeared from the pokeball. The jackal pokemon also supported two power bands on the left and right of the back of its head. A band of black circled the head. Spikes protruded from the back of the pokemon's hands and its chest. "Lucario can you see if there are any traps around?" The pokemon nodded. "Thank you." Then the pokemon closed its eyes. As it did so, the bands on the back of its head lifted and turned sideways.

"It looks like its blindfolded," Barry said.

"True. Now, do any of you know why its eyes are closed?" Cynthia said.

"So if there's explosives, it will still be able to see?" Barry answered with a question.

Cynthia sighed.

"Doesn't it use some sort of power?" Dawn also answered.

"Correct, to sense the power, known as aura, it closes its eyes and uses the bands on the back of its head to detect the aura. Of course this also allows it a slight sense of precognition, so it can detect things that humans themselves can't."

Lucario looked back at the group and waved its hand in an 'all-clear' way.

The group proceeded to enter the building. Next to the door a sign read, "Team Galactic: Making a Better World."

"Twisted bastards," Cynthia said.

What they saw in their was horrible, if only in a moral sense; pokemon were in cages all over the place. Most of them looked starved and several beaten to the brink of death.

Cynthia said quietly, "Dear God…"

Dawn stepped forward to one of the cages, it contained a pokemon that looked like a cross between a wolf and a domesticated dog. Yet it had red eyes and was a solid coat of grey.

"I really wouldn't touch that Poochyena if I were you," Cynthia advised Dawn.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt the poor thing."

When Dawn tried to comfort the weak and hungry pokemon, it bit her on the hand. The pokemon began to chew until she bled. Dawn struggled to get her hand out of the pokemon's grip.

Cynthia sighed and then said, "Teenagers… Lucario, reason with the pokemon."

Lucario nodded and walked over to the and squatted down across from the wolf pokemon. The pokemon instantly let go of Dawn's hand. After the Lucario was done staring into the dark recesses of the wolf pokemon's mind, it walked over to Cynthia.

"That's what I thought. Did it say how long they had been starved?" Cynthia said to her pokemon. "A month!?"

While Cynthia seemed to have a conversation with Lucario, Lucas was busy bandaging Dawn's hand.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Barry asked Dawn while this was going on.

"I got bitten on the hand, not a hit to the head," she hissed.

"You two should get married," Cynthia said. "You argue like a married couple."

"Yeah… No, Dawn isn't my type," Barry replied.

Lucas turned around and said, "You have a type?" in surprise.

Dawn then said, "I'd never date you anyway."

"The revelations just keep on coming," Lucas said.

The group chuckled at Lucas' remark.

"So according to the Poochyena, there are some members of Team Galactic upstairs," Cynthia said. Lucario nodded. "Well then, let's get ready. We'll get the pokemon out after we can guarantee that they will be able to get to the wild or their trainers." Cynthia led the group upstairs. Several grunts sent out pokemon when they saw the group enter the room. Cynthia only sent out one pokemon: her Garchomp. In one fell swoop, she had taken out all of their pokemon without even having to tell Garchomp what to do.

_Wow…she doesn't even need to tell her pokemon what to do_.

"What did you tell Garchomp to do?" Lucas asked.

"Extremespeed," Cynthia replied. "Which is probably why you thought that the pokemon just fell over for no reason,"

"Wow…" Barry said under his breath.

Two more people then walked around the corner. One of them was a female who had purple hair and wore dress similar to Commander Mars had at the Valley Windworks. The other was a male, yet he had a ski mask over his face to cover his identity.

"I'll handle the blonde," the man said.

"Lucas, I think I'm going to need your help," Cynthia said.

Lucas pulled out a pokeball. "You take the man; I'll take the woman."

"Sounds like you're having some fun over there!" Barry shouted from the doorway of the room to Lucas. "Huh?" Barry said as he turned around. Someone had tapped on his shoulder. "Oh shit!" he then yelled when the grunt from Team Galactic who had walked behind him attempted to punch him. Barry however, ducked to avoid the strike. Then he followed up with a punch to the stomach of the grunt. The grunt fell to his knees, gasping for breath.

"How you holding up over there?" Lucas calmly asked across the room.

"Just great." Barry then turned to the grunt on the floor. "Now you want to settle this with a battle, or am I just going to have to drag you off to a police station you scumbag?"

"Screw you," the grunt said to Barry.

"Dawn. pull out the scissors," Barry said.

"What?!" Dawn and the grunt shouted in unison.

"Let's put it this way; your hair is staying on," Barry said to the grunt.

The look on the grunts face was that of terror.

Barry then started laughing. "I got you all! Oh, boy. Look," he said as he helped the grunt up off the ground, "I'll let you go if you can best me in a pokemon battle."

The grunt nodded.

Another grunt ran into the room from the same doorway that the one before it had.

"Let's make this a double battle then. Dawn?" Barry said as the grunt ran into the room.

Dawn nodded her approval.

Lucas and Cynthia meanwhile, had began their battle with the man and the woman with purple hair.

"Jupiter," the man said.

"Yes?" the woman replied.

"Focus on the boy - he shouldn't be a problem for you,"

"It shall be done," the woman named Jupiter replied.

Jupiter and the man had sent out a Zubat and a Murkrow, respectively.

Murkrow was a pokemon that resembled a crow that appeared to be wearing a sorcerers' hat and had distinctive red eyes.

Cynthia sent out her Lucario; Lucas, his Hoothoot.

Since there was no referee, anyone could attack first.

"Let's get ready, Lucario," Cynthia said.

Lucario closed his eyes. Quickly following up, the bands on the back of its head rose.

"Drill Peck," the man said unemotionally.

"Wing Attack. Take down that Hoothoot," Jupiter ordered.

_And so it begins…_

"Hoothoot, use Reflect."

Murkrow began flying towards Lucario, cawing in an ominous manner. Lucario however, was still standing with its eyes closed. Then, when Murkrow tried to peck the jackal pokemon, Lucario seemed to anticipate the move perfectly and dodged just as well.

Zubat had also started flying towards its opponent. As it drew closer, the wings upon which it used for flight also began to glow in a white color. As the bat pokemon drew closer towards its target, Hoothoot threw up a protective barrier in between Zubat and itself. Zubat slammed into the barrier. The barrier shattered, but Zubat was heavily slowed, thus the built-up momentum was lost in the collision. The attack still hit Hoothoot, but it did not even do half as much as it could have done if Hoothoot hadn't slowed it down.

"Aura Sphere," Cynthia told Lucario. Almost immediately, a blue sphere appeared in the pokemon's right hand. Then Lucario 'threw' the sphere at Murkrow.

Before the man could order Murkrow what to do, the sphere struck the crow pokemon. One could see the pokemon's eyes widen as it took the hit. The sphere drove Murkrow into the wall behind it.

_Damn_

Dawn and Barry meanwhile had handled the two grunts who had run into the room to strike from behind.

"Do you think we should help?" Dawn asked Barry.

"Nah," Barry replied.

"Why not?"

"Lucas can handle himself; he's not a baby."

"I didn't say he was a baby!"

"I never accused you of saying that," Barry replied.

"Plebs…" Dawn muttered.

"What was that?" Barry asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all…" Dawn answered.

Cynthia meanwhile was having no trouble dealing with the man.

Lucas however, was dealing with someone with comparable skill.

"Hoothoot, use Hypnosis," Lucas ordered his pokemon.

"Do you really think that will do anything to a pokemon without eyes?" Cynthia asked sarcastically.

"Really Lucas, come on," Barry added.

"I know what I'm doing; don't worry," Lucas said.

Cynthia was right about the effect the attack would have on a pokemon without eyes, however.

_Bring them in…_

"Bite, Zubat!" Jupiter shouted.

"Jump over Zubat!" Lucas yelled.

_And ensnare them._

Hoothoot did what it was told and when it landed, it landed right on Zubat, crushing the pokemon's wings.

Barry laughed to himself; Lucas did know what he was doing. He always did.

Cynthia continued to battle the man while Lucas let his Hoothoot toy with its 'prey'.

After a few minutes of Hoothoot aggressively poking it on the head, Zubat passed out.

_That was…rather amusing._

"Humph! Worthless!" Jupiter voiced her rage at her pokemon. "Skuntank, destroy your opponent!" she shouted as she sent out a pokemon that resembled a skunk nearly the size of a man.

"That thing smells like shit!" Barry shouted.

"No shit Sherlock" Dawn said.

"No puns intended," Barry said as if finishing her sentence.

Cynthia turned around just long enough to say, "Shut the hell up you two."

Jupiter however had other plans. "You know what to hit," she told her pokemon.

The Skuntank nodded and shot several balls at Barry.

_What the hell? She missed Hoothoot completely…_

Then he realized what she was aiming at.

Barry also noticed and so had Dawn. Before any of them could react, Lucas dived and forced Barry out of the path.

Lucas had kept Barry out of danger, yet thrown himself into harm's way and had paid the price; the balls hit him and exploded.

Dawn gasped. "Oh God…" she trailed off.

"What? Lucas will just get up; give him a minute," Barry said though there was a trace of uncertainty in his voice.

"Hold your own Lucario," Cynthia said as she swooped in over Lucas' body laying on the ground. She applied two fingers to his neck. "That's what I thought…"

"Poison Gas?" Dawn asked.

Cynthia nodded.

Lucas meanwhile was losing consciousness.

The last thing he saw was Barry drawing a pokeball.

Then it all went black.

A/N: I rather enjoyed this chapter, yet I don't know why. Don't worry, this is just the tip of the iceburg. I'll try not to take this long again with an update. I've been busy with football, AP (college-bound) classes, and a shit-load of homework and chores. And I've had to share the computer with my little brother (he's currently obsessed with Battlefield: 1942).

And a note about events outside of the main story: I will make some allusions to the rest of the world. And later include some information about the Sinnoh region itself.


	13. Revelation

A/N: I think that last chapter had a little cliffhanger there, didn't it? Also, this is where I start to go off story again.

Revelation

_Why does my head hurt so much? And where am I?_

Lucas tried to raise his arm, but pain consumed it and he ceased to raise it.

_Guess that's out of the question…_

Then he noticed that someone was holding his hand. The hand was gentle, soft to the touch, yet had a firm grip on his.

Lucas would have known who was holding his hand if his eyes were open, but they were weighed down with exhaustion.

"Doctor, will he be all right?" Dawn's voice asked.

"He should be able to make a full recovery. I must say though, I've never seen anyone take that much poison into their system and live to tell the tale. However, we should have to keep him overnight…"

"So we should be able to get on our way by tomorrow?" Barry's voice manifested itself.

"Correct. He'll be a little sore for about a week."

"Any chance of him waking up soon, or is he just going to be in a coma until morning?" Barry continued the conversation.

"Maybe, maybe not," the doctor answered. Footsteps could be heard; they started getting fainter until one could not hear them over the equipment monitoring Lucas' condition.

"Damn doctors and they're answers!" Barry said rather loudly. "'Is he going to live? I don't know; sure I'm a medical expert and I've seen people in worse conditions, but I don't know,'" Barry mocked.

Dawn and someone else laughed.

Then someone could be heard running into the room. The person took a moment to catch his breath then a male's voice said, "Cynthia, this just came in for you."

"What is it?" Cynthia asked.

"You need to read this; its urgent," the man replied.

The paper rustled as Cynthia took the paper from the man. "Are you sure this is correct?" she asked.

"Intel say's they're pretty damn sure."

"I'd love to stay and chat you two, but if you'll excuse me, they're a crisis on my hands here," Cynthia told Dawn and Barry as she left the room.

"I wonder what that was about," Barry said in tired voice. "Damn, its already ten o'clock. You going to stay here or are you going to head back to the pokemon center?"

"I thought that you couldn't stay at a pokemon center consecutively," Dawn replied.

"That reminds me; Cynthia arranged that with Nurse Joy, so we've got an exception."

"It doesn't matter, really; I was going to stay and look after Lucas anyway…" Dawn trailed off.

"Suit yourself. You want anything to drink?"

"I'll take anything with caffeine in it."

Lucas tried opening his eyes once more and this time he succeeded.

Dawn noticed that he was trying to open his eyes and removed her hand from his by the time he opened them.

His first word to her when after he opened his eyes were, "Fancy seeing you here."

"Good to see you're awake," Barry said as he walked through the door with two Colas.

"Likewise," Lucas said in a friendly tone. "So… What happened after I closed my eyes.

"Dawn and I made out while Cynthia kicked the shit out of Jupiter and the masked man," Barry answered jokingly. "Actually, Cynthia and I kicked the shit out of them. Dawn made sure we didn't lose you," Barry told the correct story after Dawn shot him a look.

"I must say though, Barry was pretty angry about what happened; he battled with a rage I'd never seen in anyone."

"That? That was nothing compared to when Lucas gets angry. The one time I saw him angry was the day after…Should I tell her, Lucas?"

"I'll tell her soon myself."

Barry shrugged and said, "Well, it is your decision."

"What, did someone die?" Dawn asked in a slightly sarcastic manner.

The two boys both remained silent. Dawn turned red out of embarrassment.

"So Barry… Where are we going to be tomorrow night?" Lucas asked his friend to end the silence.

Barry took a map out of his pack and began studying it. "Looks like Hearthome City isn't but a day's journey from here. We'll have to head down Cycling Road and Mt. Cornet however…"

"Where are we going to get bikes?" Lucas asked.

Dawn spoke first. "There's a bike shop on the way out of town; we can probably get a few bikes there."

"Sounds good to me," Lucas replied.

The phone in the lobby began to ring. A few seconds later, one of the receptionists ran in and handed the phone to Lucas.

"Its your mother," she mouthed.

Lucas nodded his thanks and answered the phone.

"Hey Mom."

"I heard what happened in Eterna City."

"Yeah…"

His mother sighed and then said, "Sometimes I worry about you; you're exactly like your father when he was younger."

Lucas chuckled and replied, "Don't worry Mom; if I'm really like Dad, then I should be able to heal quickly as well."

Lucas then shooed the other two out of the room with a curt, yet kind remark: "Let me sleep."

The next morning, Lucas awoke to find a tray of scrambled eggs, toast, coffee, and a muffin (with blueberries) on his bed.

After he had finished his breakfast, a nurse walked into the room pushing a wheelchair.

"Mr. Barbarossa, you've been discharged," the nurse said as she beckoned him into the wheelchair.

"I take it I won't have to be crippled for the rest of my life?" Lucas said in good humor.

The nurse chuckled and said, "Of course not, its merely hospital policy that all patients are umm… chaired out of the hospital." She then handed Lucas a bottle.

"Painkillers I assume." Lucas said before he read the label.

"Correct."

Dawn and Barry were both waiting for him outside. After Lucas got out of the wheelchair, he jogged over to them. He winced from the lingering pain of the gas.

"You alright man?" Barry asked.

"I'm alright, otherwise I wouldn't be a Barbarossa," Lucas replied confidently.

"Its good to see that you're alright," Dawn said.

"I know I should have thanked you last night Lucas, but thanks for taking the blow for me…" Barry said as he let his head hang down.

"I'm just glad to see that no serious harm came to the two of you," Lucas said as he looked at them both.

"Come with me; I've got something to show you two," Dawn said as she turned away from the two and started walking at a brisk pace.

Barry snickered.

_Glad to see he hasn't changed._

Then Lucas looked at Dawn as she led them around the corner of the hospital.

_Somehow she seems more beautiful each day._

"Lucas we're going to lose her if we don't start following!" Barry said loudly to snap Lucas out of his daydream.

"Right."

The two quickly caught up with Dawn, who they found standing next to a bike rack. Within the bike rack were three top-of-the-line bikes.

"Are those… for us?" Lucas asked.

"Yep," dawn replied.

"How…" Lucas asked.

"The owner of the bike shop in town had a daughter who was being held for ransom in Team Galactic's headquarters," Dawn replied.

"So… in an act of good faith, he gave us these bikes?" Barry asked.

"Correct."

"Dawn, what would we do without you?" Barry asked as he gave her a hug.

"Probably be lost."

"Hey!" Barry said ; he knew she was joking.

The three hopped on their bikes and made good time. They quickly got on cycling road and were a mile north of Oreburgh City within a half-hour. When they stopped at the end of cycling road, Barry was panting.

"What's the matter Barry, you can't be all tired out," Lucas said in a friendly, yet somewhat derisive tone, the one that only close friends would use on each other.

"Shouldn't have worn these pants," he said between breathes.

"Why?" asked Dawn.

"Here's why." Barry proceeded to walk around, or try to anyway. As he tried to walk around, one could tell that his pants were chafing badly.

Dawn could barely contain her laughter at the spectacle. It may not have been polite, but she found it humorous nonetheless.

"Perhaps we should have lunch; its nearly 12:30 already," Lucas suggested. Looking at Barry, he added on, "I'm sure Barry won't mind."

"If I could run I'd tackle you right now," Barry said in good humor.

"Well at least you're pants aren't taking over your personality." Lucas joked.

"Hmm… Kid possessed by pants, goes on murder spree… I can see it all now. Sounds like the plot to some B-rate horror film." Barry said.

Both Dawn and Lucas could not help contain their laughter.

After lunch, the group set out again.

"So, about what time should we reach Hearthome City, Dawn?" Lucas asked.

"Not very long at all; we just need to get through Mt. Cornet and Hearthome City will be just ahead."

Lucas thought about the dream he had about Mt. Cornet. It had played through his mind yet again last night, yet it had seemed more real, more vivid.

_Need to quit eating salty foods before bed…_

The group entered the tunnel that cut through Mt. Cornet. Lights resting on the wall gave the path an orange glow. Along the way, the group encountered a man reading something on the wall. He had blue spiky hair and wore clothes similar to what someone from Team Galactic would wear. When he noticed them, he mumbled something pertaining to the mountain and scurried off.

"Must be one of those new-era hippies," Barry said.

"I wonder what it says on the wall," Dawn said, ignoring what Barry had said.

"Ask Lucas, he's a genius," Barry said.

"Can you read it, Lucas?" Dawn asked, surprised.

"I doubt it; this looks like Unown; I'd have to take some time to study it. And I'm not too keen on studying in the middle of a tunnel."

"Now that I think about it, Prof. Rowan did want me to collect some data on the ruins just east of Solaceon Town," Dawn said more to herself than anyone.

"Where's Solaceon Town?" Barry asked.

"Don't worry about it; its on our route after Hearthome City," Dawn answered.

The group continued on their way and very soon the light of day was before them.

"Freedom!" Barry shouted and started running towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Get back her William Wallace!" Lucas yelled.

"Don't go towards the light!" Dawn shouted.

Barry turned around and shouted, "Enough jokes you two lovebirds!"

Dawn and Lucas quit their laughing and looked at each other; both of them were blushing.

"You shouldn't have said that!" Lucas hollered in the way only friends would and started chasing after Barry.

Dawn sighed and said to herself, "Boys will be boys."

Lucas showed that he was a very fast runner when need be and quickly caught up with Barry. That was when he noticed two rather familiar people; one of them had spiky white hair and the other was a brunette.

_Damn we must travel fast… Or they just travel slow._

After the group caught up with Lucas, they made their way out of the mountain and were greeted by the two people that Lucas had seen: Brendan and May.

"Well now, its good to see friends, even though it hasn't been a week yet," Brendan said. "So what brings you out here now; the Hearthome City Gym?"

"Yeah," all three of them answered.

"You're out of luck here; the gym leader, Fantina, is gone."

"What?!"

"Relax. She hasn't been kidnapped; she's merely out doing… whatever gym leaders do when they aren't waiting for challengers."

"So she's probably hitting the clubs right now," Barry said, his voice dripping with disappointment.

"Hey Lucas," May said. She whispered the next part to him. "We were wondering - well, I was wondering, is that _thing_ in Hearthome City -"

Lucas picked up on what she was talking about as soon as she started to whisper. "Yes, it is," he replied. "Don't mention it to the other two though, alright?"

"I understand."

The two then joined the rest of the group.

"Hey anybody got the time?" Barry asked no one person in particular.

"Yeah. Let's see…" Dawn said as she switched the mode her poketch was on to the watch function. "Its already 2:00."

"I can honestly say that I think we didn't spend that much time in the mountain," Lucas said.

"When you're in a tunnel," Brendan said, " time goes a lot faster, or at least, it seems to."

"Trust him, Hoenn had its fair share of caves; we were in one cave or another a good deal of the journey," May backed him up.

"Or in a cavern under the sea," Brendan said.

"Its an inside joke," May said.

The group, including May and Brendan again, made its way into Hearthome City within an hour.

"We're going to check into the pokemon center and take a look around town, Lucas, want to join us?" Dawn said to Lucas as they entered through the city gates.

"No thanks." With that Lucas turned away and started heading towards the west side of the city.

"How are we going to find him in this city?" Dawn asked Barry.

"Don't worry I know exactly where he's going."

May and Brendan decided to check and see if Fantina was at the gym. If she wasn't the two of them would try and get to Solaceon Town before dark.

As Lucas made his way to the west side of the city, he stopped to buy a batch of flowers. At his destination he set the flowers down, he kneeled and started to cry.

Two hours later, Dawn and Barry showed up next to Lucas.

"Hey Lucas, Brendan says that - oh my," Dawn cut herself off as she realized what was before them.

Even Barry looked grim at what was before them.

In front of the group, stood a tombstone, inscribed with the following inscribed upon it: Matthew Johnson Barbarossa, 1961 - 1999, Loved by his wife, Johanna and his son, Lucas.

A/N: Oh, plot twist! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but I had been grounded for a while, but that's a story to tell later. So, to all my readers, expect the next chapter in the near future and Happy New Year (a little late). And we'll see some different character cameos later on; it won't be just May and Brendan.


End file.
